Infinity Symbol
by MintyPinkHydreigon
Summary: It looked like it would be a nice day for Rider, having her friend returning and a party as well, but when her friends all go missing, what will she have to do to bring them back?
1. Chapter 1

_It was a nice day today in Primp town, very sunny with the only clouds rolling overhead being the ones that had rained much earlier in the day. In other words, it was a nice day for gardening. The weeds were easy to pull out and the plants didn't need any water._

_It would be perfect conditions for any garden, especially for my best friend's garden._

_I looked over to my dad; he was trying to set up a pretty birdbath that he had made. It had little waves curved into the ceramic to make it ether look like waves or wind. He was kind of artistic like that, always making a new sculpture or painting._

_At the moment he was digging into the middle of the cleared area that Tarutaru said he was going to turn into a new garden, specifically for tomatoes, sugar snap peas and other climbing plants. Dad was sure that once he saw the birdbath he wouldn't mind that his future garden had been changed. I was sure about that too. He liked birds a lot._

_I looked back at what I was doing: weeding the garden for when he returns home. After all, it would be kind to make sure that when he gets back, he can just enjoy the party and not have to worry about having to clean or garden._

_I grabbed some that must have escaped my eyes on the sweeps looking for them. I had already got rid of most of them by throwing them into a nearby bag after they had been pulled out. These ones were soon in the bag as well. I was glad that I was nearly finished, even with the gloves on I still felt as if insects were crawling on my hands._

_I continued with the task until I was nearly sure I was finished, then stood up and looked around one more time, just to make sure no more had slipped past my inspection. None had. I walked around knowing that they could be hiding, still none._

_It looked to be my lucky day: I was free to look around or take a break while others were still working._

…

_Okay, that wouldn't be really nice. I'm sure if mum, dad and Ms Accord had finished first they'd help me out._

_I looked over to dad; he was just putting the birdbath into the ground._

'_Hey dad, umm…do you need any help with anything?' I asked him. Even though he was my dad, it was hard to break old habits of speech._

_He didn't look up at me. I knew that meant he was concentrating a lot, but I still thought it was a bit rude; after all, I was looking at_ him. _Why couldn't he return that courtesy?_

'Yeah_, I guess you could grab the hose in a moment.' He said. 'Bring it back here; I'll put it in the birdbath when this is secure in the ground. Make sure to go to the taps and turn it on and off when I say so, that way this'll be up and running when your friend gets back.'_

'_Okay then.' I said to him, but he was already concentrating back on the birdbath._

_I took off the gloves and put them on the table under the gazebo. They were dirty, so they would need to be washed under the hose later, too. Then I went over towards the house. The house was a pretty red brick house, yet it was a fairly large one too, with many windows and enlarged doorways to allow anyone to enter the house, as long as they had the keys anyway._

_I walked over to the tap, which was on the same side of the house as the gardens and pergola. There was a hose connected to it. I found the end of it and took it back towards dad, dragging the middle part on the ground._

'_Okay, you've got it have you?' He said and finally looked at me while speaking. 'Well I think I've got this as level as it will ever be, so can you go back to the tap?'_

'_Okay, I'll go back and turn it on soon.' I said to him then turned around to go back to the tap. Soon the birdbath was filled up, though dad had to stand it more straight so the water wouldn't tip out due to crookedness._

_After that I couldn't find anything else outside that needed to be done or fixed. A few days ago we'd tidied up Tarutarus' bedroom so it wouldn't be dusty and cleaned up the pergola, because due to recent rain and wind storms the dirt from the uncultivated patch had been blown onto the tiles, making them look the colour of dirt instead of the pretty salmon colour they usually were._

_There was no reason for me to stay outside, so I went inside the house, though the back entrance and into the laundry area. It also was a place for people to put their shoes so that the dirt wouldn't wander into the main living areas from the back yard. I decided to put my shoes near the washtub, sitting down to untie the laces without falling over. Then I walked up the small two-step staircase into the main living area. It was a dining room, or was it a lounge room? Maybe it was a mixture of the two? I never could tell. It contained characteristics of both rooms, a dining table, chairs and a archway leading into the kitchen, yet it had lounge chairs as well as a small television and cupboard full of board games for when the television cut out._

_Sitting at the table with her pet puppet cat, Popoi, was Ms Accord. She had glue; scissors and other craft related objects spread around the table. Popoi was trying to clean it all to one part of the table, grumbling about it all the while._

'_You know, as an adult, you really should be able to take care of your own mess!' he hissed at Ms Accord whilst trying to move a large piece of cardboard paper that was bending all over the place._

_Ms Accord didn't respond in any way. She just continued adding glitter and sparkles to the "Welcome home!" banner._

_Popoi rolled his eyes- or tried to at least. It would be kind of hard for a puppet to roll their eyes. He mostly just rolled his head to mimic it._

_I walked away from the doorway after shutting the door. 'Do any of you need any help?' I asked, trying to be louder than usual. _

_At first I thought they hadn't heard me, Accord was humming to herself and looking down as she added some more glitter to corners of the banner. Then Popoi turned around and said. 'Hello Ms Rider, you do realise that spying on people is rude, don't you?'_

_I guess he hadn't heard me after all. I shook my head, meaning that I wasn't spying on them. _

'_Is there any thing you need help with?' I asked again after getting closer to the table._

_At this point Accord did look up, but she always appears to have her eyes closed, so I wasn't sure if she was looking at all. In fact, I'm not sure if she looks at _anything_. No one is. People like Amitie have asked her, but she always changes the subject._

_But I shouldn't think about that, none of his "friends" are here, especially not Amitie…_

'_Well I don't need any help Rider. I'm nearly done. I also don't think you should go into the kitchen, not unless you want to hear some really colourful words from your Ms Lucy.'_

_Colourful words? I couldn't hear anything at all._

'_Yup, you'd think that with her son coming home she'd be happy, not really upset.' Finished Popoi after he got tired of holding the cardboard paper._

'_Um, what do you mean by colourful words?' I asked them._

_I still couldn't hear anything rude; In fact I couldn't hear anything from the kitchen, shouldn't there be more cooking related sounds? Are they on a break?_

'_Well, by colourful words, I meant they were saying some words I didn't like, so I put up a magical barrier.' Explained Ms Accord. She gestured to the archway. 'The barrier keeps all the sound from the kitchen _in_ the kitchen instead of it coming though the open archway.' She finished._

_Well that explained why I couldn't hear anything. _

'_Okay, then what should I do now?' I asked her. I was still trying to figure out why his mother, Lucy would be upset? She loves him and hadn't seen him nearly a year. _

_It didn't make sense._

_Ms Accord turned towards Popoi, who was looking at me. After a second he noticed and turned towards her._

'_You could take Popoi outside for a bit, maybe then he won't complain about having to clean up after me.' She said whilst scooping Popoi up in her hands._

_She wanted me to take him but he just glared at me for a second, then pulled a funny face, which I didn't know he could do. I still had lots to learn about him._

_I went outside back the way I came, making sure to put my shoes back on._

_I walked past Dad, who was sitting at the table under the pergola. He'd brought a book about sculpting techniques with him to read, so he was fine._

_After getting away from the tiles, which Mum wouldn't want me running over, I ran over to one of the nice old trees near the road. This tree was one where the branches were close to the ground for climbing, yet also had lots of leaves at the top for shade. Not only that, but also most of the branches were solid enough to step on and not worry about them breaking underfoot._

_It was one of my favourite places to be when visiting Tarutaru's house, assuming he was there too._

_I climbed up the tree whilst Popoi complained. He could be a bit weird about being carried around, especially up trees for some reason._

_Soon I was sitting on a solid branch, one that had a variety of things to fiddle or play with like strings for cats-cradle, some old stuffed animals that were too old to stay in my room anymore and a old sculpture of a bird hanging from a overhead branch. Most of the stuff Tarutaru had hoarded here was on the ground- he wasn't able to climb the tree._

_Popoi looked up at the bird, he wasn't here very much, except for the times Ms Accord let me baby-sit him and take him other places._

_Popoi jumped away onto the overhead branch. He pawed at the bird. It was a good thing it was attached securely enough to not fall. 'It's blue all over, shouldn't there be some variation?' He asked, turning from the bird to me._

'_Umm…' Thinking for a jiffy, I wasn't sure about that question at all. Birds do normally have more colours on them, but what if this one was a bluebird? 'I'm not really sure, I think it's a bluebird but I don't know.' I answered Popoi._

_For a while I just sat there. Popoi bounded up into the very top of the tree, trying to catch birds. I was trying to think up new ways to perform cats-cradle for a while, and then my mum and Tarutaru's mum came outside to the pergola carrying plates of food and bottles of drink. They were talking about something to each other but I don't know what about due to being far away._

_Dad looked up at mum and started talking to them too. Even with other people he wouldn't look at them, except mum. He always looked at her._

_They slowly set up the tables with different food and drinks for he welcoming party, returning back and forwards through the house many times._

_The tree rustled when Popoi leaped to catch a bird. He fell of his branch and fell onto the over hanging branch, nearly knocking the bird sculpture off it's wire and hook. _

_I decided to grab Popoi and jump down to help them out while I could. Maybe then we could all sit down and wait together._

_So that was what happened, at least until Tarutaru arrived._

_I was sitting down under the pergola next to dad and mum, Mrs Accord was adding the finishing touches to the banner with Popoi and Tarutaru's mother was waiting near the road. I looked through the kitchen windows at the clock. It was nearly lunchtime. _

_I had been told a bus would bring him here from a far away city, but I didn't know the cities name or how far away it was. This made it difficult to know _when_ he would be here._

_I sat forward, leaning on the table a bit. I was bored, there was nothing left to do but wait. I wished I had brought down my Cats cradle string with me, even though I knew it like the back of my hand, playing with it would be better than nothing._

_I could see mum out of the corner of my eye, she looked disapproving, but didn't comment. She knew what it was like, waiting ages for something. _

_After ages, where Mrs Accord had sat down on the edge of the tiles when finished with her banner, I saw Lucy straighten up- she must have saw something. In a few seconds, a bus pulled up outside on the road. In less than ten seconds I was by the edges of the road as well. I'd forgotten, and then remembered, what mum had said earlier. _

"Let his mother greet him first because she hasn't seen him for a long time."

_Never mind that I hadn't seen him for a long time too…_

_I waited as he departed the bus. Waited for his mother to hug him. Wait for her to say how much she missed him. Waited for him to notice I was there._

_Then he turned to me. I just stood there- I hadn't seen him for a while. What if he'd changed and didn't want to be friends with me anymore? What if something bad happened and I convinced him that I was_ _different now?_

_He smiled. It should have reassured me, but it didn't reach his eyes. Then I thought- He'd been sick for a long time. Weren't glassy-eyes associated with sickness?_

_Maybe I shouldn't worry so much. His smile faltered a bit as he waited for me to speak._

'_I-I thought I'd never see you again…' I said quietly._

_The next thing I knew I was being crushed by a bear hug. I wasn't sure if I had been crying before or if I'd just started. I guess it didn't really matter._

'_Don't be upset.' He said to me. "You knew I was aright, didn't you?' _

_I shook my head. I had been sent letters, as well as been told little amounts of information as to how he was going. But I hadn't been told that he would be all right. Maybe they didn't want to get my hopes up only to have them shattered?_

_I didn't even know why he had been sent away for a nearly a year, I had always been told that he was just absent. I only found out later that he was sick._

'Rider.'

_I looked up; Lucy was standing by him. 'This is supposed to be a happy day, isn't it.' She looked disapprovingly._

_I jumped back, trying to dry my eyes on my sleeves. I really shouldn't be crying today. She was right. He had enough to go through without me adding more problems. I turned away, only able to hear them now. _

'_Tarutaru, why don't you go under the pergola? Your teacher is there, I'm sure she would like to talk to you about your studies.'_

'_Okay then, mum.' I heard him say as he trudged towards the house. _

_I waited a moment to stop crying. I could hear his mother behind me, but I didn't want to face her just yet. Not until I was presentable._

'_Now Rider, I know that you are better than that.' She said, stepping between the house and me, letting me both see her and blocking me if I ran. 'He has been really worried about you, saying in the letters how he was concerned about who would be you friends at school. He did worry a lot, how could he not?'_

_She was misunderstanding the problem- I wasn't upset about that. I knew that._

'_I wasn't upset about that, miss. I was just surprised. He still looked sick. I was scared, that's all.' I said, trying not to sound too upset._

_To be honest, I didn't even know why I was sad. There just seemed to be many things that worried me, or confused me. I knew what she said wasn't it, but that was all._

'_Well I hope you're able to compose yourself now. If he worries too much…' She must have been thinking how to end that. '…I'm not sure, but it can't be good for him. Remember how, when you have the flu, you have to rest and not worry about anything. I think it's the same here.' She finished. She didn't ask why I was scared, which was nice of her. I wasn't sure how to answer that question anyway._

'_Okay then.' I said to her, I thought that I'd be okay now. If I remembered the better times I'd be good._

_She clapped her hands once in front of her. ' Alright, we ought to go see how everyone is, shouldn't we?' She said then she turned away to return to the pergola. I followed her, running to keep up with her as she was in a hurry. At the same time, I was ashamed of how I had reacted before. I told myself that she was right; because she was about everything- I was better than that. I also told myself that I wouldn't cause any more problems today or make the party turn sad. _

_In a short while we were back under the pergola. Tarutaru was talking to Ms Accord about his studies._

'_Well, at least you have been studying while you were absent, it's nice to hear about students taking their responsibilities seriously.'_

'_Yes, it's is' Mother cut in. 'Though I think that even with studying, he will have to catch up a fair bit at school.' She looked around and spotted me. 'Dear, you and Tarutaru are in the same class, maybe you could help him?' She didn't comment on my red eyes, it was all too common to warrant mention from her._

'_Umm, yeah I guess I can.' I wasn't really sure I could be qualified to be a tutor, no matter how much I'd learnt._

_The conversation kind of ended then, with everyone taking a seat at the table. Everyone except Accord, who decided to stand next to the table, catching Tarutaru up on everything he'd missed._

'…_And you missed the lessons about magical creatures of past eras, it's pretty major. I think Klug knows a lot about it, maybe he'll share a book with you? And also, you missed the Primp Town Magical School Puyo Tournament. But it's okay we'll have another one soon.' She finished while smiling at him._

_She looked around for Popoi._

'_Where is he?' He had vanished apparently._

_I looked down when I felt something poking at left elbow._

'_I did tell you eavesdropping was bad, right?' Said Popoi after climbing upon my shoulder._

'_I wasn't eavesdropping or spying.' I whispered to him. I wasn't feeling too good, or at least good enough to listen to Popoi scolding me. Everyone looked at us. I wished they wouldn't. _

'_Mrs Accord, am I still going to be in Goody Goods class?' He asked as if to distract from Popoi's scolding._

'_Oh, you mean _Ms Goods_ class? I guess you will be, though its still better to get notes off Klug. I know for certain he took them.' She said. 'If you would like you could move into the regular class after catching up.' She finished._

'_Oh no, I'm fine in Goodies class. She's a nice teacher and my friends are in her class.'_

_I'll say this for Tarutaru: He knew how to cheer me up. I wasn't feeling so bad now. I'll definitely be able to act happier now._

'_And I think everyone will be glad to see you back.' I said, and then regretted it. To close to a bad issue that could stop the party right there and then…_

_He didn't know this but I think everyone else did, their body language said so as they tensed up._

'_So where is everyone?' He asked, looking over the yard. ' I thought they were going to jump out and say "Surprise" but I guess not.' He said searching around for what could have been an honest answer among us._

_Everyone was silent. I could see why. What could you say to that without hurting his feelings? _How _could you say, "They don't like you enough to be here with you", even if you sugarcoated it, and still have a heart?_

_Eventually Accord spoke up._

'_They're absent, Tarutaru. That's all it is.'_

_I don't know why, but I was really angry with that. They were absent, but absent just isn't a word strong enough for what they were doing. They were acting as if a friend who comes back from the hospital isn't something to celebrate. They were acting as if they didn't care that he was back. I hate them sometimes! Even Amitie hasn't shown up today._

_What word was strong enough for this?_

'_They don't care that's why they're absent.' I murmured, not loudly but loudly enough for people to hear near me. The next second I regretted it, like most of everything today. Maybe there was another reason for them not being here?_

_Ether way, I shouldn't be worrying Tarutaru so much…that's the worst bit. Because he was sitting across from me he'd heard what I said in anger. Now he was looking so upset. The party was becoming very bad and all thanks to me. Of all days not to be silent…_

_The group just sat there in silence for a second, as if waiting for a miracle to make this party turn good again._

'_I'm sorry, I didn't mean that.' I said, trying to make sure my voice was loud so everyone could hear it. 'It's just weird; they promised they'd be here when I asked them about it.'_

'_Well Rider, maybe something else popped up that they needed to take care of.' Said Lucy quietly. 'I'm sure they would be here if they could.' _

_Everyone nodded in agreement. Even Popoi did._

_The next second, I could hear shouting from near the edge of the road. I wasn't sure if anyone else had heard it for a jiffy. I turned around in the seat and looked towards the road. A blonde lady was beginning to run over the yard, waving her arms around like she wanted to take wing. I stood up after pushing the seat out, by this time others were noticing her and standing up too. She rushed over, nearly tripping over the edge of the tiles. She continued yelling, though I couldn't tell what she was saying._

'_Ma'am, you've got to calm down. Please tell us why you're here and who you are? Asked Accord, looking composed even when others were confused and panicky. I knew for sure I was confused, I hoped she would be able to answer Accords question between sobs._

'_I-I I need to know where my daughter is, please tell me!' She chocked out then continued sobbing._

_I could see others moving around me. Mother rushed forwards to talk to her, as did Ms Accord. Tarutaru and the others stayed back. I went around to where Tarutaru was, trying to not make myself to noticeable. _

_I knew one thing- this woman scared me. Most people don't just run up screeching and ruining parties even more so than they were. For all I know, she could be bringing the apocalypse with her._

'_Oh, it's okay. I think I remember you ma'am. Aren't you Amities mother, Clarissa? I've heard some very fond words in the town. You organise events and you're always composed even in strife. Is that you?' Asked my mother, whilst simultaneously giving out compliments. That was the good thing about her really._

_I wanted to point out that she wasn't composed at the moment, but don't throw stones in glass houses is what they say._

'_Uh-huh, that's me.' Clarissa said quietly almost to herself. 'I'm looking for her, she isn't home and no one has seen her around anywhere. I have no clues, I hope, I hope…'She didn't really need to finish the sentence._

'_Well, has anyone here seen her this morning? Asked Accord, looking around at the group._

_I looked too; no one was moving to indicate they had._

_The only thing I realised was Tarutaru's mother looking as if she had seen death itself. As Clarissa broke down and was surrounded by Mother and Accord, The phones started ringing in the house._

_Because no one else would, I rushed inside, not bothering to take off my shoes to get the telephone. I wasn't sure what I was thinking, except that maybe I'd have an answer to all the questions that needed answering. Like _Where is Amitie? _Why has she disappeared? Has everyone vanished? Is that why we're the only ones here?_

_The phone that was ringing wasn't the house phone, as I had thought, but Accords mobile. Without thinking I picked it up and spoke into the receiver._

'_Uh, hello, why are you calling today?'_

'_Who are you and where's Accord?' Said the voice on the other end._

'_I'm Rider and she's out, do you want me to get her.' I asked quickly, the temperature was growing colder by the minute, or so it seemed. I started shivering._

'_No, just tell her this. Lots of people have been reported missing. She needs to report to the police station now. Tell her this. Most of the missing ether worked for her or were her students. Goodbye.' He hanged up._

_For a second I just stood in silence. I had the answer to some of my questions, but didn't like it at all. _

_I went outside to tell Accord the news from the phone. Hoping she wouldn't mind me answering it. Hoping Tarutarus mum wouldn't mind the dirty floor._

_Hoping I was just dreaming. _

Whoa, took a while to make this. Hopefully the next chapter won't take half as long. Anyway, thank you for reading this far. Otherwise I'm not really sure what to say, except that I know that the grammar could be better, but I don't know how to fix it yet. Anyway, comments and criticisms are especially needed, as this is my first fic that I've posted here/ had anyone look at. (All the other fics I've started are dead before first chapter ends. orz.)

I also hoped I've kept characters mostly in character, though I have wondered how Rider would behave when she's angry? My guess is most of the time she would be silent and just turn the anger towards herself, which might explain why she has no self confidence- she's her own worst enemy in that regard.

(Notice how I said "Most"- some times she would slip and say something nasty. :P)

Oh and yes, Puyo does not belong to me, or the characters even though I wish they did…

Except for OC's, they belong to me I guess. * Shrugs *

Oh, and sorry about the italics, won't be any in the next chapter. I just wanted to emphasize that this was a strange start and that the rest of the story would be in more present tones? (I really don't know. :/)

So anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

I looked around to find Tarutaru. We were searching throughout the markets of Primp town, looking for a clue or sign of where our friends had disappeared too. During this I had managed to be separated from him by the crowds of people. These people were as confused as I was, or so they looked.

'Hey Rider, I think he went the opposite direction, back through the alleyways to the right.' Said Popoi from my shoulder. Accord had given him to me before leaving for the police station yesterday, saying she'd be back soon. She wasn't.

I darted around the little stalls selling fruits and vegetables, trying to avoid being crushed underfoot by the tallest adults there. That threat was enough to keep me away from the streets on market day most times, but today was kind of different from regular days. Eventually, after running around and getting cries of "Hey, watch out kid!" I managed to find Tarutaru. He was in an alleyway, searching behind an old pile of boxes that looked like they had been there since last weeks rain storm. They were all mouldy and soggy and no one would want to hide there, would they? He looked up, the box he was holding having fallen apart whilst suspended in the air.

'Oh, Rider. Sorry for vanishing, but I thought I saw something hiding in here. I guess not.' He said, shrugging his shoulders.

'You know Tarutaru; you could have just asked me if I felt their magical presence. Then you wouldn't have to wander off and lose us.' Said Popoi from my shoulder, sounding annoyed.

I felt kind of similar- I hated being left behind when in crowded areas, but at the same time, I knew Popoi didn't like being asked all the time from the way he'd reacted the previous times. Maybe he'd changed his mind? 'Well, at least we are all together again' I said to Popoi and Tarutaru. 'Popoi, do you happen to feel anything magical around here?' I asked him. I hoped he would say yes even though I already knew the answer from his face.

'Well what do _you_ think Miss Rider? Did I mention feeling anything? All I know is that you two are here with me, okay?' He hissed, drawing away from us, or at least as far as he could while remaining on my shoulder.

I tried to ignore the sarcasm. We did not need to start fighting now.

'Well, we could keep looking, I think all the market place has been cheeked by now.' Said Tarutaru, who was already walking towards the exit of the alleyway.

'Hey, Tarutaru, you have to wait for us. This is how we get left behind- you just go too fast.' Popoi yelled, as if to make sure Tarutaru heard him.

Apparently he had, because he stopped and waited for us this time.

_Maybe this day won't be so bad after all. _I thought to myself, walking along besides Tarutaru.

00000000

Soon we had decided on our next destination, the Haunted forest. I was tired of walking around all day, but I didn't have any chance to stop lest I lose Tarutaru.

Still, it could have been worse I guess. I could be wandering through here by myself…

After thinking that, I sped up to Tarutarus side- Usually I didn't go this deep into the forest, staying where the trees were thinner. This time we were walking through the deepest part of the forest. I looked at Popoi, he had said that someone was here, but he had been wrong before with the market place, confusing a gaoled Ms Accord for Amitie. Tarutaru turned around a bit, then looked ahead again after seeing it was me.

I nearly tripped up on some low brambles, stepping over at the last second. I couldn't take much time to think, otherwise I'd ether get lost or fall over something. For a while we just kept walking along the track, keeping pace with each other this time. After a while, the path petered out, turning from a red stone collage path into a dirt and plant covered trail. We all had to keep even closer together or risk tripping over plants and rocks from Zig Zag Peak. Not long after, even that track vanished, becoming entirely small plants.

I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't want to go deep into the forest. Except for the person who had gone before, or was it a group of people?

I stopped, waiting for Tarutaru to stop too. 'Hey, you two, I think someone has gone through this way.' I said. I didn't even have to try and be loud; there were no other sounds in the forest. 'It looks like there are places in the plants where they have been squashed by footprints.' I wasn't sure whether they had seen it yet, after all the only reason I'd seen it was because I'd been looking down for low bushes to avoid.

'Yeah, I wonder if the missing classmates have gone through here.' Asked Popoi.

'Umm, I'm not sure. Maybe they've gone through this way but I don't know.' I said, looking to the tops of the trees, or as far as I could look anyway. I thought I'd heard speaking up there, but it must have been the wind.

'Well I hope they haven't gone too far away, if they've looped back to Zig Zag Peak I'll be very annoyed.' He said. I believed him too. He'd said earlier that the sooner they were found, the sooner Ms Accord could be released.

I didn't remind him that the missing people could say Accord did this to them.

We both looked ahead after hearing footsteps. It was just Tarutaru turning towards us. 'Have you noticed that there are no birds in the trees?' He asked.

I could feel Popoi ruffling up- so I responded before he could. 'No I haven't, do you know why?

'Yes, it means someone's driven the birds away, as well as the creatures.' He replied to me. 'Someone may still be here; if they had left then the birds would have returned to the trees.'

'Well, hopefully we _will_ find them soon.' Said Popoi, cheering up a bit by the looks.

I on the other hand, was kind of scared. What if the students attacked us? What if the person wasn't the students but someone worse?

Now the silence seemed much more foreboding.

'Rider, lets keep going, we'll find them up here I think.' Said Tarutaru, turning to walk away.

I followed him; there was no way I'd be left behind with strange things going on.

00000000

We walked for a long time without seeing anything at all. No monsters, no students, not even any Onion Pixy's. The birds did not show up and the walk remained silent except for questions asked between us.

'Popoi, do you sense them yet?'

'Nah not really, I think we're going in the right direction though.'

After a while, the crushed bushes seemed to get even more dishevelled than before. Now instead of looking like people had walked through them it looked like they'd _stampeded _through them. The good thing was that it was a lot easier to walk over flat bushes than rounded ones.

A new problem that had arisen was that vines were now hanging down from the trees; they were very easily tangled around things like hair and arms. This was really annoying, because now we had to stop every few metres to untangle ourselves. Tarutaru had the worse time of it. He wouldn't try and rip the branches like Popoi suggested; he'd just stand there untangling himself.

We took a long time to get anywhere much. After a while, we'd approached a clearing of sorts- it had less trees and a wide stream running through the middle, but you still couldn't see the sky.

In the clearing was Raffine.

She stood there with her back turned to us, looking as dishevelled as the bushes we'd past before. Her socks were ripped and one was missing as well as her skirt and shirt being scratched through by what looked like claw marks, she looked as if she'd been walking through the forest for days now.

_Maybe we shouldn't be here…_ I thought to myself.

She turned around, muttering something to herself. She looked even worse from the side- she looked so scared and confused. It just wasn't right for her to be like this.

She was also missing her pouch that she always had with her.

I looked down at Popoi; he was trying to hide behind my neck. 'Popoi, did you sense her as being here?' I asked. I thought he would have given us notice we would have found her. He seemed just as surprised as we were.

'No, I didn't know she was here, she's missing something I think…'

I looked around at Tarutaru. He looked horrified by what he was seeing; it showed up on his face mostly. Popoi poked his head around my neck. We all watched Raffine.

She walked around slowly, as if she was hurt badly, she continued muttering to herself, though because she was closer I could hear her:

'Where is it, I've lost it, where is it…'

She didn't seem to be actually seeing anything, because otherwise she would have noticed us standing there.

The next thing I know, Tarutaru walked towards her. 'It'll be okay Raffine, we'll help you find it, would you prefer to come with us now or tell us where the others are?'

Popoi scoffed behind my neck, he obviously felt he could be better with subtlety.

Raffine just looked at Tarutaru getting closer. She didn't move or act as if she recognised him in any way. Eventually, after what felt like a decade she reacted to him.

'Get away from me!' She screamed at the top of her lungs. She almost sounded like her old self.

Almost. She sounded angry, but she still sounded confused and scared even when yelling.

He kept getting closer, walking almost at a turtles pace now. 'Raffine, please come back with us, we'll help you with whatever it is.'

I wanted to yell out to get away, I wasn't sure why, except that she was looking really panicked, edging away from him until the edge of the stream.

Instead I pleaded with him. 'Tarutaru, please get away from her. She might hurt you. Please stay away…' I could tell he wasn't listening to me, not this time.

I looked down at Popoi to see what he thought I should do. Then I heard Raffine scream. I looked up to see her kick Tarutaru in the stomach. I could hear myself calling out while running over to him. He'd kneeled over from the blow and was now lying face down. When I got to his side, I wasn't sure what to do- we were deep in a forest, our parents thought we were studying at school and no on was available for miles.

_Please let him be okay. _I thought to myself.

Tarutaru turned over from his front and sat up. He didn't look like he could stand just yet.

'Are you okay?' I asked him as Popoi jumped off my shoulders to take a look at him. He really didn't look like he was, but I could be wrong.

'I'm fine, where's Raffine?' He asked when he got his breath back. I really didn't know. I hadn't paid any attention to her after Tarutaru was injured. I was about to say that when Popoi spoke up: 'She'd turned around and ran through the stream.' He said. 'If we followed her now we could still catch up.'

We all looked over the river, the vines and bushes had been ether torn up or stomped on in an area that must have been her path. For a moment I just continued looking, then when I turned back I realised something from their faces: They wanted me to follow her. Popoi for his Mistress and Tarutaru for his friends and crush.

They must have been kidding. I couldn't just run after Raffine by myself. They must have read my face as well. 'Rider, it's not like Tarutaru can chase her now, And I'm too tiny to get anywhere fast.' Popoi said. 'I'll go with you if it makes you feel any better.'

It wasn't really making me feel any better, though I knew Tarutaru would hate me for not finding her. He looked like he was still in pain, but he would be in even more if I didn't find her. This was what made me grab Popoi and run through the river, shouting out 'Goodbye' as I left. I'd be back soon enough, he would be fine for a little while and besides- I had Popoi with me.

Why wasn't this helping at all? Every instinct was telling me to turn back and run, get help, and get Tarutaru out of there. I tried to ignore that. I splashed through the river, getting my shoes and socks all waterlogged and Popoi climbed back onto my shoulder quickly. Soon we were on the opposite bank. I still kept running. Now the vines were really annoying, I tried to rip them like before but I was already going too slowly, so I started trying to duck under them or go around.

After a while reality started catching up, as did my nervousness. Raffine was so much fasted than me; she was the best in Physical Education as well as out of school events. I wasn't even fast enough to stay with the group when running. If she continued, she'd be so far away. Was it really worth it?

Maybe there was another way…

'Rider, why are you slowing down?' Popoi asked as I started walking. Running was making too much noise; anyone could hear us and know where we are. I answered him when I stopped walking:

'I'm looking, I'm not even sure if Raffine is still following this path, or maybe there's a shortcut to look for.' He didn't answer, just started looking with me. I walked forward a bit more, then I saw it, an alternate path leading away from the right. This one had almost no sign of being different, except for some ripped vines and her wing hair-clip trapped on a broken branch.

'You know, I do think she went this way Rider' Said Popoi leaning forwards to look better. 'But I don't have any idea what's up ahead. Why would she go this way anyway…?' He asked. I didn't know the answer, but after a second he straightened up and said to follow the path.

Once we were on the path, more differences became obvious. One of them being that the bushes had been trampled in places, yet not in others, maybe she'd missed some while running? Another being that every so often, another bit of her hair could be found clinging to a branch or vine. She hadn't bothered to go slow at all through here. I could understand why, this part of the track wasn't letting the creepy feeling go away. If anything the feeling was intensifying the further we went along the path. After a while, I realised we'd arrived at something because we couldn't go any further. The vines were still clinging and the trees were still there, but they were backdropped by what appeared to be a tall mountain cliff. The vines climbed the cliff-face, almost hiding it; the trees surrounding it obscured it as well. I got closer to the cliff-face and looked up: we were at one of the bottom edges of Zig Zag Peak.

'So how did she vanish on us…?' Asked Popoi to himself. The edge was curved around so as to make it impossible to leave unless she went back through the forest. For a while we searched around the edge of the forest, but found no alternate paths. By then Popoi was getting impatient: 'She really could have made it easier, we're wasting time searching through the forest edge.' He said, and then jumped off my shoulder onto the ground.

'H-hey Popoi, where are you going?' I asked. He didn't usually run off on his own.

'I'm looking outside the box, that's what!' He yelled out, and then ran off to the cliff face. That really didn't explain much at all, so I followed him, keeping back in case something happened.

'Well you could be helping, Rider.' He yelled over his back. He still kept inspecting the cliff face, going underneath the vines at times.

'How do I help you, I don't know what you're looking for. Raffine couldn't be underneath the vines, would she?'

'_Now_ she gets it. I think there's a cave underneath the vines.' He said, looking to another part of the cliff face.

I didn't understand for a minute, I thought he'd meant by looking there that he thought Raffine was hiding between the vines and cliff. I guess not. I didn't bother correcting him about my meaning; it would've just looked like an excuse.

Instead I started sorting through the vines as well, looking for any trace of a hole or maybe even a button needing to be pressed. For ages I found nothing. I could tell by Popoi's increased mutterings that he had found nothing either. We searched for another long while. The sun started setting; Mum would be wondering why I wasn't back yet.

'Rider, we might have to go back soon. It's getting to late too continue without a light of some kind, and we need to get back to Tarutaru, see if he's fine and find our way out.' He said softly, looking defeated. He returned to my side, but I kept looking.

'Rider, I told you; we should go back. It's too late to find anything.'

'No, we've still got some time left…' I said and continued looking. It wouldn't be worth it if we didn't find them, besides; Tarutaru would be upset if we came back without Raffine.

Besides, I wanted to ask some questions too, like why they vanished in the first place and why they didn't come to Tarutaru's welcoming party. I wasn't sure if finding them would answer those questions, but it couldn't hurt?

Popoi looked at where I was searching, staying nearby for a while which was nice of him. He could have just left me after all.

Soon the sun had vanished to the point that only a little bit of light was left. I was giving up hope at this point; I'd just have to return home as quickly as I could…

The next thing I knew I'd found a cave entrance at the very base of the cliff. I jumped back, having nearly fallen in after brushing away the topsoil and clearing the vines. Popoi looked down the entrance: 'I can't sense anything, but I couldn't sense her before so…?'

For a minute we just waited there, wondering whether to go into the cave. It wasn't very large, but it looked really steep, from the light that was still in the sky, I couldn't see the bottom.

'Well I think she's down there, and the others could be there too. Time to stop dawdling, Rider.' Said Popoi, and then jumped back onto my shoulder.

'Should we just say that we'd found them and go back? I think Tarutaru would be fine with that.' I said. After all, we'd found them and hopefully they wouldn't leave at night, what with all the strange creatures that patrol at night. Besides that the cave looked scary, with no light and no sound ether, it could have been a black hole for all I knew.

'We could come back tomorrow, but they might be gone, after all they can take care of themselves enough to not be trapped for long.' He said. Then he looked into my eyes. 'Look, I'll be with you, so you don't have to be scared of them or anything. Besides, if we bring back the students then Tarutaru will be happy too, won't he? Isn't that what you want?' He asked.

I looked down, he was right in a way. Tarutaru wouldn't mind knowing they were here, but he'd prefer to see them and know they were okay.

I made sure to remove any left over vines then looked down again. It was kind of steep due to going further down than ground level. In many ways it was like a rabbit hole. I made sure Popoi was still hanging on to my shoulder and that my shoes wouldn't fill with too much loose dirt. Then I dropped down into the hole, closing my eyes due to not knowing how long I would fall.

I wasn't sure how long I fell for, except that I fell onto my knees and hands at the end before rolling forward a bit. My knees and hands were now hurting from being fallen on, so I didn't bother getting up for a bit, just laying there instead.

'Rider, are you alright?' Asked Popoi from what sounded like a fair bit away.

'Yeah I'm all right; just hurt my knees a bit.' I murmured, and then decided lying in the dark was very possibly a bad idea and stood up. All I knew was that I was hurt and that it was really really dark. I'd thought it would be dark, but it seemed even more so than I'd thought; I couldn't see anything, not even my sleeves.

'Popoi, where are you?' I asked in a whisper, worried because anything could be here besides us.

'I'm over here' he whispered back. 'Just follow my voice and I'll find you, okay?'

At first I couldn't tell where he was, just stumbling around while trying to be silent, after awhile I was able to tell where to go after listening to him humming for a long time. After a while I found a wall to use as a guide. It hurt my hands to touch the wall, but it was good regardless, as I couldn't stop from tripping over rocks without sight to guide me.

'Popoi, am I near you now?' I asked. He'd said that he would find me when I was close enough. I hoped I was.

I waited about a minute, by then I was getting worried, but then I felt something poking my leg that felt like a puppet. It was Popoi.

'Okay, I think I've found you now, is that you?'

'Yeah it is, thank goodness you've found me.' I said, thinking what could have been there instead.

He jumped up onto my shoulder again; I could feel him close to my neck. Now at least I knew he was with me.

'So now I'm not really sure what to do, just keep following the wall I guess?' He said uncertainly after a bit. This was not very assuring to me, but I went along the wall anyway, all the while thinking that even Popoi didn't know what was going to happen next.

Many times I stumbled or felt that I was going nowhere, I worried that I was continuously taking the wrong path and that I'd never find them. I also wondered how much time had past. Was it half an hour? Two? How long would Tarutaru be kept waiting for us?

None of this mattered, because we kept going anyway. After a long while I spotted a light up ahead. Maybe we were going in the right direction, but even if we weren't; at least I could now see what I was doing. I could see that I was walking over a very uneven track, which I'd known even before sight, but I could also see murals on the opposite wall. I couldn't see the fine details and the colours due to the quality of the light, but I could tell creatures were on the walls of many different sizes and shapes. Some were big; some were small; some were almost human in appearance; some looked like monsters.

Before I'd know it, I'd stopped to look some more at the mural, crossing over to the other side without memory of it.

'Rider, these are very interesting, but we should keep going. Remember, the sooner we find them the sooner we get out of here.' He whispered and waited for me too move on. I didn't. The murals looked so _familiar_ to me, like I'd once had a memory of them and just couldn't recall it. At the same time, I couldn't have seen them before; I'd never been down here before now.

'Hey, let's keep going already Rider.' He said exasperatedly, shoving my neck trying to get me to move.

I still kept looking, why though, why was this so much more interesting than other murals?

I guess I was looking for others like me in it.

I knew that they still wouldn't be here; the textbooks had said themselves that most of the different species of magical creatures had been driven extinct, except for the most common species like Onion Pixy.

At one stage I'd thought that I could find them, but not anymore. It really did seem I was one of the last to still be alive here; maybe they'd gone somewhere else for now, but none were still here with me.

But I wanted to know more; I wasn't sure just what exactly, but something. This something continued to evade me until Popoi shouted 'are you even listening to me?' into my ear.

The spell was broken, and I recoiled in pain. I hated it when people yelled right into my ear; it was bad enough when they were yelling nearby.

'Popoi, why did you do that?' I asked after the sound stopped ringing in my ears.

'You weren't responding, I had to do something didn't I?' He whispered fiercely.

I was about to tell him that it didn't matter whether he was whispering now that it was too late when I heard footsteps up where the light was. A voice could be heard, not yelling but just talking normally. 'Who are you, and where are you?'

We bolted back the way we came, running back into the darkness from before. We didn't bother trying to be silent now as we heard that voice behind us.

'Please stay still so I can find you already.' The voice said, reverting from the walls and echoing. Even when shouting his voice remained calm and formal sounding. This in itself was scary, because who has a voice like that?

I ran back towards the entrance, tripping over many rocks and other unseen objects whilst trying to get away. My knees and legs didn't want to keep running. Popoi was for once not speaking, just clinging to me. I wasn't sure of much other than that really, other than hoping we could exit as easily as we had entered and hoping we wouldn't be caught. I wasn't even sure why I wanted to run away from him, just that I could feel Popoi's apprehension radiating from him too. Maybe because I didn't have any idea who he was, I couldn't locate where he was from either, even though when people talk they tend to speak like where they grew up.

This was just too strange.

As I was running along the wall, I felt my hand fall away from the wall and fell forward, landing once again on my hands and knees. I wasn't sure what happened at first, but Popoi cleared it up:

'Rider, there's another passage; if we go down there we could get away from him.' I heard Popoi whispering. It sounded so far away over my heartbeat. However, I ran down there anyway. I had no idea whether it would help me to take this path or just further trap me, all I knew was that I was scared with no other options at the time. I tried my best to be silent, hearing the footsteps from the main tunnel. When I reached the end of the tunnel, I crouched down. I could still hear the footsteps and him calling out.

'Is anyone there? Can you tell me?'

I looked behind me anyway, hoping for an exit to suddenly spring into existence. I could see the rays of light bouncing off the wall, even though they were faint.

Just then I heard a scream. It wasn't the person, I knew because the voice was more feminine. I opened my eyes to see the beams of light flickering away.

'She must have woken early…' I heard him mutter, and then the light vanished completely. I could feel Popoi becoming less tense, though he didn't say anything. I followed his example and didn't speak ether. The screaming continued even after the light had completely faded away, it sounded familiar somehow but I couldn't place where I'd heard it before.

I waited for a little while, at least until I couldn't hear the footsteps any more. Then I started slowly creeping along the wall back into the main passage. Constantly I worried that I'd set a foot wrong and summon him back. Somehow I made it back to the main tunnel without any problems.

'What should we do now?' I asked Popoi, trying to make my voice even quieter than a whisper.

'I don't know anymore.' He said sounding defeated. 'I don't think we can get out of here, we could try but then what will happen to Raffine and the others? The only thing I think we can do is take a guess and hope it's the right one.'

I sat there for a second, waiting for an answer to suddenly pop out of thin air. The screaming was driving me crazy, it was so hard to think; what could we do about Raffine and the others?

'I guess we just go towards the screams for now, I really can't think of anything better.' I whispered, looking once again towards the light. I didn't really want to go there at all, I didn't know what I'd see when I got there. What I did know was that I wouldn't be able to get out of here by myself, besides maybe all of this is just a big misunderstanding? The disappearance, the cuts on Raffine's legs…

Raffine…?

The screaming was Raffine. She usually didn't, but it was her. But why was she screaming like that…?

I started running towards the light, feeling Popoi still clinging to my shoulder.

'Rider; hey what's going on?' I heard Popoi asking me.

'The person screaming, it's Raffine. We need to find her, we have to.' I said. I wasn't even sure why anymore, there must have been a reason, but all of them sounded silly in my head:

"_If we find her Tarutaru will be happy, if we go down there it may all turn out to be a strange misunderstanding? If we go down there and Raffine is okay, she might help us get out of here._"

None of these arguments helped me at all. But I still wanted to go there anyway…

"_What was wrong with me today?"_

I stopped running, making sure I was a little bit back from the point where the tunnel opened up. The light was so much here that I could see more detail than even before, that the walls were red coloured with yellow spots throughout. It looked really weird for a cave to have that kind of colour.

'Hey Rider, I know that the walls are a lot better looking than what could be happening down there, but shouldn't we at least see what's happening to Raffine, so we can see if we can help at all.' Said Popoi, quickly going from being quiet to sarcastic. I decided to go in, after all he was right, even though I didn't know what I'd see, even though I was scared, I just really needed to get this over with.

Meanwhile, the screaming and yelling had risen up a few notches. Not only that but I could now hear words in the mix. They weren't understandable, but that was because two people were talking at the same time.

I wandered into the room at the end of the tunnel. It descended down into what could be compared to an antechamber. The colours were even stranger here, the rocky ledges and floor dotted with all the colours of the rainbow. In the middle of this antechamber, Raffine and him were fighting. Raffine was on the offensive, kicking and punching whilst chasing him backwards. He however was on the defensive, dodging backwards and, from what I could tell from the way Raffine had more cuts every minute, he was also using either knifes or claws to attack.

It really did look like an unfair fight, and I was wondering how I could help her to make it more even. Magic could hurt her too and I wasn't sure I'd be able to get down there; the slope was looking way to steep. Besides, I wasn't any good at fighting.

It turned out that going down there was unnecessary, the fight changed its tide and Raffine was winning. She'd kicked away his knife, by the spinning silver I saw, and had now backed him up against the slope of the antechamber. She'd reached down, to pick up the knife by the looks and in a few steps had the knife up to the neck of the cloak.

All the screams and yells had stopped; I walked as far forward as I could without falling down the slope. She started ranting at him:

'You better give me back my pouch now before I get really angry, mister whoever-you-are. Because if I don't have it back you'll be wishing that you were dead.' The last words repeated over due to echoing. It sounded as if walls were chanting _dead, dead, dead _with her.

Then something really weird happened. The action stopped for a second, at least from what I could tell, and I heard a voice next to me:

'I really think I should step in now, don't you think Horned Girl?'

I jumped; no one had been there a second ago, how had someone got there so fast. The way she said it, it almost sounded like a joke. I know that Popoi thought so by the way he was snickering.

Well at least she looked like one until she picked up Raffine mentally and threw her into the rocks on the side. The fight that Raffine looked like she'd win turned around completely all in the space of a second.

I backed away from the girl beside me; I could feel Popoi hiding behind my neck; so much for helping me.

'Aww, poor little girl, I think I broke her.' She said. Then she dropped the joking demeanour. 'Cadel, why did I have to be called here this time? Further more, why had the girl been winning?' She glared down at him as he turned to face her, then he went to check on Raffine and restrain her.

'I'm sorry Mistress, I was sleeping due to different times…'

'Enough excuses, you should have realised that this girl, whose magic is not native to her would come out of her trance early. You should have been ready. What's more, where are the others? Don't tell me they went walkabouts too.' She yelled, looking like she would throw something soon.

'No Mistress, When I realised this girl was gone, I sent the others away first, then went looking in the tunnels.' He said, looking up once again at her. 'Please forgive me Mistress, I made a mistake and will not make it again.'

She dropped her scary demeanour after that, looking a lot happier than even when I first saw her. 'Well that's okay then, as long as you realise you're wrong when you are.' She said, looking down at him. I thought for a jiffy that I'd be ignored and forgotten about. Maybe if I was I would be able to plan to help Raffine better.

'But enough about that, you have a visitor.' She said, stepping away from me. I backed away further down the cave, I didn't want this creature to know I was here, I didn't want to get too close to him.

'Hmm, it looks like she's shy, hiding like that.' The girl called Mistress said, turning to look at me. 'Would you like me to send her down, Cadel?'

I couldn't hear the reply, because at that moment _I _had been picked up mentally. The difference was that instead of being thrown, I was placed down lightly on the ground again.

In the antechamber.

I looked behind me, spinning around. I was really panicking now. I was going to die.

The girl, Mistress touched down beside me, I backed away from her into a ledge. I twisted around, looking to see if it was climbable, but the ledges were much higher than me.

'Aww, she really is shy. Poor thing. But still I've got to ask you, is she a friend or Enemy?' Mistress said. I turned back towards them and slunk down against the ledge. I was going to die; I knew this because not even Popoi was offering solutions now.

I shut my eyes, trying to forget I was here. I could feel my heart leaping in my chest. Even the forest, even the cave, even when they disappeared, I'd not been this scared. I hadn't any outright fear for my life then. I'd always had a reason to suspect that I'd survive.

I could hear someone walking towards me.

"_Please go away…"_

The steps continued. I could feel Popoi poking me in the shoulder blades, trying to get me to move.

"_Just leave me alone…"_

The steps stopped in front of me. I could hear breathing.

"_Please…"_

Nothing happened, this nothing continued to happen for what felt like a long time. After a while, I opened my eyes again, expecting that maybe I'd see the knife from before, right up against my neck. Or claws soaked in blood.

Instead I saw a gloved hand holding still in front of me.

What was going on here? I couldn't understand it, was he going to kill me? Take me prisoner? Or was I going to be okay?

'Well, miss Horned Girl, are you my friend or my enemy?' He said in the same tones. Any body language like a smile was missed due to his cloak covering his face in darkness.

I looked beyond him, remembering that this girl; Mistress was still in the room. She was looking disgusted at the boy in front of me, presumably Cadel. After that I remembered his question and shook my head- I didn't know him, how could I be his friend or enemy? Even more, would it be safe to pick an answer?

'Girl, that was not really a yes or no answer, which are you?' He repeated, still keeping the same tone. I couldn't tell if he was getting frustrated or not.

'I-I'm not sure…' I said in a whisper, hiding my face behind my hands. I was still not sure what would happen to me, it seemed to change every second. Sometimes I thought I'd be okay, other times I thought much worse.

The only thing I knew for certain was that I'd followed Popoi's advice from the corridor, to make a guess and hope it's the right one.

'Cadel, if she's not a friend, then get rid of her! She'll just tell the entire world what's going on. Do you want your Infinity to fail?' Mistress yelled, looking once again as if she'd throw something.

I shut my eyes. I could hear him shifting on his feet and waited for the knife to cut into me, after all, he had to get rid of me now. My guess had turned out to be wrong and everything would end now.

Instead he grabbed my arm and pulled me upwards so I was standing. Once again I was surprised, once again my eyes opened. 'Do not look so worried, Horned Girl.' He said. I looked up at where his face would be; one yellow eye was visible. In it I couldn't figure out if he was telling the truth, about me not having to be worried.

He turned his head away to his right; I looked there too but couldn't see what he was looking for at first. 'Over there is a rope, I know you have a pet demon. If you use the rope and your wits you will be able to leave here.' He pointed it out when I still couldn't see it. It was really old looking and blended into the colours of the ledge as it had been painted exactly the same.

'Cadel! Why aren't you listening? You need to kill her, she'll just blab to everyone and they'll try and stand up to you if you don't.' She yelled again, getting even more infuriated. I shrank down, trying to hide from her and having no other way. Besides, what if he started listening to her? I could see a knife underneath his cloak…

He turned around and walked back over to Mistress, grabbing and dragging Raffine with him as well. 'I can not kill her Mistress.' He said when he was close to her. 'She might be a friend in the future, and if I did I would be as bad as the monsters I fight against.

Mistress turned away from him and said this, struggling to keep her voice toneless and calm: 'I have not been helping you for very long now, but you seem to think you're experiences outclass mine, that you are more likely to make good decisions. That is not the case. I've had to bail you out of problems caused by your own pigheadedness too much, and I'm over it. I know that leaving this girl alive will be bad for you, from millenniums of experience. From this same experience I know that showing mercy can be fatal to the cause.'

She stopped for a second, as if to collect her thoughts. I wanted to ask Popoi what was going on, but he ducked away and continued listening. Cadel just looked at her; it looked like he would soon drop Raffine due to either weight or surprise.

'But what I'm trying to say is, I've done so much for you, yet you still believe your decisions are better. Even when you say you're wrong, you don't really mean it. Your just trying to get me on your side of the argument and avoid punishment. I won't put up with this anymore. If you make a problem, from now on I won't be stepping in to fix it. I'll still help with your plan as it's a good one, but no more silliness- it just isn't the way to run a revolution.'

After these last words, she vanished, disappearing the same way a ghost would. The ramble over and Mistress gone, I didn't feel quite as scared as before. I was still scared, but Cadel at least seemed less ruthless, if only towards me.

Cadel looked over his shoulder at me: 'I told you where the rope is, little Horned Girl, you should think about using it, because now I'll be leaving and Mistress might change her mind and come back to finish you.'

I looked down at Popoi; he shook his head. I still didn't know what was happening to Raffine, though I think Popoi did: 'what about Raffine, you aren't taking her with you surely?'

Cadel didn't even bother responding, or asking us how we knew her name. He just nodded, and then walked towards the centre of the antechamber away from us.

'Oh, and little Horned Girl.' He said, briefly turning around. 'If you interfere with my plans again, I'll do as Mistress says. I won't take mercy on you next time.'

After that he turned around again and made sure that was holding Raffine properly.

'What is he going to do…?' I heard Popoi mutter to himself.

I was wondering that too, he wasn't going anywhere near the rope, he wasn't much taller than me so he wouldn't be able to climb the ledges. How would he manage to get Raffine out of the cave even if he did get out of the antechamber?

Maybe he'd do what Arle did, teleport through space by playing puyo. But that didn't make any sense, who would he play puyo with?

Maybe he had a way to teleport without puyo matches…and he was going to take Raffine with him.

Once again, I took a guess and hoped it was right. I ran towards him, hoping to convince him to leave her behind. The ground beneath him started shining, he was doing something magical for sure now.

He span around.

I grabbed his cloak.

Then I disappeared from the antechamber.

00000000

Once again I couldn't see anything. Everything around me was dark. It looked still. It wasn't. I could feel myself being dragged forwards by something. I could also feel Popoi clinging to my shoulder, as well as my hand grasping something. This something was twisting around and every second I thought I'd lose my hold of it.

I couldn't hear anything, even though I could feel the wind in my ears.

Was this what Klug sometimes mentioned? Travelling at the speeds of light and sound?

I wasn't sure, except now I was only hanging on by the tips of my fingers. I scrambled to secure myself and continue hanging on. I didn't know anything about this place, except that it was rough. My sleeves were being twisted around my arms and my dress kept hitting my legs.

I knew I didn't want to let go and see what this place was really like.

I tried even more to stay with Cadel and Raffine, grabbing at anything I could, hoping I wouldn't be shaken off.

Next thing I knew, an arm had undid my fingers and shoved me away.

I was falling, with no ability to see or hear. I was sure I started screaming, but I couldn't hear it myself. I could feel Popoi clinging to my neck.

What was going to happen now? Would I crash? Where? When?

Would I ever see my friends and family again?

I would have thought more, except that in that moment I crashed into something. All I could think about was the pain. I felt like I was burning.

Before I could recover my sight or hearing I blacked out.

00000000 

You won't believe how many times parts of this had to be redone… But yay, another chapter finished, and only about a month after it was started. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I'm not used to writing yet. Hopefully next chapter will be completed quicker…a fortnight maybe :p

Anyway, about the cave. There are other tunnels that branch away and upwards towards the surface; they show up in another place. If Rider had followed the main path she would have found it. This was the tunnel used by the rest of the classmates, just in case someone was wondering how the other classmates could have gotten down there without following Raffines' path.


	3. Chapter 3

I lay still with my eyes shut, listening to birds whistling in the trees outside my window. I knew I'd have to wake up and go to school soon, but it was nice just being able to daydream for a bit. Besides that, I didn't really feel like going to school today, my head was hurting and I was aching all over. Maybe I had the flu or something? I'd have to tell mum that when she decided to get me out of bed.

I couldn't really remember what I'd been dreaming about or when I got to bed, except that the dream was a nightmare. A very strange nightmare where my classmates had vanished and I'd been falling. My head decided to ache more after remembering it.

But the strangest thing wasn't even the nightmare; it was that I couldn't feel my sheets around me. I reached down without looking to try and pull them up- but they couldn't be found.

Maybe mum had already been in, seen that I wasn't awake and pulled the sheets right back so I'd want to get up myself.

This was bad; I really didn't feel like I _could_ get up today. It just felt like one of those days where you stay in bed all day and rest. I could understand why she did it though; on most days it worked.

In the end I figured I'd have to get out of bed, regardless of how sick I felt. Without the sheets it just felt too cold.

It was at this point I opened my eyes and realised I wasn't in my room; instead I was lying down on the ground. The ground was soft and spongy due to the grass, but it felt unreal- something I'd mistaken for symptoms of flu turned out to be real, or at least as real as it could be.

I went to sit up, and had to stop because I felt dizzy. I waited a bit this time and next time I tried I was able to sit up. Looking around, I saw that I was in a field that went on into the horizon, the grass in the field didn't move, as there was no wind to stir them. The trees didn't move either, not the trees far away or the one that was next to me on my right.

It didn't look like there were any people in this field besides me. Everything was completely silent.

There was no Popoi, no Tarutaru, no mum, no dad…

I sobbed; I had no idea where I was anymore. I wasn't anywhere near home, I was hurt or sick and no one else was here. Why am I here? Am I still having that nightmare…?

I figured it out- the nightmare wasn't really a nightmare. It was what really happened to me. My classmates really had vanished and I had really fallen from the sky.

But Popoi had been there when I'd fallen, unless he'd let go before I landed.

…That didn't change the problem, whether Popoi was here or not- I'd made a guess and it was the wrong one. Either I'd teleported to a land that was unknown to me, or I was dead and this was the only afterlife there was. The afterlife option would explain why I felt so unreal, but it wouldn't explain why I was still hurting.

It would also explain why I wasn't wearing any of the clothes I knew I had, but instead was wearing a shirt and skirt, both white with gold trimmings. These clothes were exactly the sorts I could imagine a dead person wearing in the afterlife, if it even exists.

For a while I sat there and cried. I couldn't explain what I felt, whether I was sad, angry with myself, and a mixture of other things. Was it regret? Was it hopelessness? I didn't know, as all of them swirled around inside my head, a head that could not possibly sort them properly due to the ache pounding within it.

I sat like this, trying to block out all of these feelings, trying to just stop thinking at all.

But I couldn't stay like that forever.

After a while of unknown length, I could hear footsteps approaching me from behind. They sounded loud, but at the same time soft. They made my headache feel even worse, to the point I covered my ears with my hands to stop it. It didn't stop all the noise, but it made it bearable.

I looked behind me towards the steps, to realise there was a tree just a little behind me. It hadn't been providing any shade at all, as the sun was glaring down on it from my angle.

Behind this tree was a girl.

I looked again, not because I thought she was a hallucination as much as that she looked like Amitie. At the same time, she didn't look a thing like her. This Amitie- thing, she had the same hair, but her hat was missing and her face looked much more intense than usual. She was wearing a strange looking uniform that mimicked mine except for sleeves. Her eyes narrowed and smile straight, it looked like someone had sewn another's face onto Amities'.

She stared at me for a while, stopped on the other side of the tree.

I looked at her as well; I wasn't sure what to do, or even why she was here. Had I somehow been teleported to the same place she had, even though I'd been lost? Was she dead? Was there something else I couldn't even guess?

At the same time, I wasn't sure if I should run away from her. I sat there instead.

She advanced towards me, going around the tree to her right. As she went around, I could see she was limping, especially when she had to lift her feet higher over the tree roots.

She was now about a foot worth of centimetres away from me. Her face had turned even stormier looking, the frown stretching across her face.

She stopped.

A few seconds went by, with her just standing there. I thought that maybe she'd be able to help me, though I wasn't too hopeful at this point.

Whatever hope I did have was burst when she grabbed me by the two straps that held up my shirt. She held me up for a second, looking into my eyes. I looked into hers, wondering why. Then she turned and threw me, the tree breaking my fall. I crumpled, falling forwards. The pain doubled due to this.

I just lay there, hoping that she would leave me alone, but even more that this would turn out to be a mistake.

I knew it wouldn't though.

I could hear her footsteps approaching again. I shrank down and curled up. Even though Amitie wasn't the most athletic person, she could still hurt me if she wanted to, the last being proof of that. She didn't even have to be physical to hurt me- magic could do the trick much better.

She got closer; I could hear her breathing above me. My back didn't want to be curled up while hurt, but I couldn't do much else. I couldn't run away like this, couldn't possibly win in a magic dual or a physical one. There really wasn't anything that could be done to save myself. I tried to feel scared, but all I felt was numbness. I waited for this to end.

She grabbed me again by the shoulder straps, dragging me up so I was sitting. The pain only seemed to get worse with movement. When I faced away from her, she dropped me and grabbed my head instead, making it so I could only focus on her.

Her face looked infuriated at me, staring with a grimace and blank eyes. The green in them looked diluted. I turned my eyes away from hers; looking at the ground instead.

I waited for what she was going to do to me. I wasn't sure what would happen and I wasn't interested in making guesses anymore. I was tired of everything. I couldn't bother being scared or trying to get away, after all, if I was dead already, what was the point in trying?

'Why? Why did you do this to me?' I could hear her whisper in my ear.

'…But, I didn't do anything to you Amitie.' I whispered back, wondering if maybe I was right and it was a misunderstanding. I looked back at her to see if it was, but instead what I saw was her crying. Her face held still, with no movement other than the tears and the red that was taking over.

Seeing that I was looking at her, she simply repeated 'why?'

'I don't know what you mean…' I said to her, trying to keep my voice loud enough to be heard.

'It- you took it from me. I'll never be the same now. Why would you do that?' I could hear her gasping. The hold on my head was loosening.

She let go, letting me tumble to the ground. I cringed as my legs were forced once again to stand. As I was trying to stand up, something that was nearly impossible, she span around so that she was facing behind her.

I nearly fell down after that, but grabbed the tree that was behind me and was able to hold myself steady. When I'd gotten my balance, I looked up and saw that someone else had grabbed her sleeves, holding her back from them. At first I thought it was the boy from the dream I had, and shrank back as far as I could while still hanging onto the tree.

Instead it was a brown kind of person, but even that wouldn't describe him. He looked like a plush toy brought to life.

He put his face really close to the Amitie- thing's face, and said 'hey, you shouldn't be this upset; it's a wonderful day! Besides why were you hurting this young lady for anyway? She looks a bit sad, but that's no reason to hurt her.'

I just stared. What a weird thing to say to _anyone, _not just the Amitie-thing. Was this one of the inhabitants here? Why was he helping me and being so strange about it?

She started struggling against his grasp, darting around and trying to throw his hands off her sleeves. In response he gripped tighter, then pulled her forward, upsetting her balance and causing her to fall into him.

He shook his head. 'Hey, I've never seen you around here anyway, where are you from?' He asked her. 'Besides, why are you being so weird, when it's such a nice day?' He asked her again, not waiting for her to answer his first few questions.

I thought he was weird, but that was nothing to what the Amitie-thing must have thought, because she doubled her attempts to get away. Ripping her sleeves out of his hands finally, she turned to glare at me and fled, disappearing in a matter of seconds.

I stared after her, as did the strange boy.

'What a strange girl.' I heard him say. Only after a second did I realise he must have been talking to me.

'Uh, I guess she must be…' I said in reply. I didn't say that I thought she was my friend, or even more like, was just my friend who had lost "it", whatever "it" was.

I saw him turn to me out of the corner of my eye, so I turned to him too, so I could see if what I'd seen when he was behind the Amitie-thing was real; if he really did look like a plush toy.

He did, more specifically he looked like a fox, with the tail, paws and ears. He was wearing similar clothes to me, except with shorts instead of skirt. I sighed and wondered whether all the clothes would be the same in this strange world, whether I'd ever again get to wear my old jumper and dress.

But even more so, would I get out of this strange world at all?

'Oh, why are you so upset anyway?' He asked me, looking at my face. I hadn't realised I'd started crying again.

'I-it's nothing…' I said, taking one hand off the tree to wipe my tears away.

'There most definitely is something wrong. I thought you were sad, and this just proves it. If it was really nothing, you wouldn't be crying!' He said, and started walking towards me.

Meanwhile, I was backing away, at least as far as I could whilst still clinging to the tree.

He kept approaching me, while I kept backing away.

Eventually it came to the point where I had to let go of the tree to keep backing away. I did and fell over my feet, landing on some of the aboveground roots.

Next thing, his hand was in front of me, palm turned upwards. 'It's no good you tripping over, are you dizzy or something? Do you want a hand?' He asked in succession, looking down on me concernedly.

I looked into his eyes and turned away. I didn't know him, besides that he was strange and he could be trying to trick me by acting kind.

When I didn't respond, he reached down, and went to grab my hand. His hand went straight through mine. For a minute, he stood there, looking shocked. I was shocked too, but not as much as him. After all, a bunch of weird things had happened to me today, this was just another one of many.

'Well, that was a very strange thing; maybe you're not all here?' he laughed, and then grabbed at the strap of my shirt instead. I was dragged to my feet again, but nearly fell over again. My legs didn't want to walk or stand by the stinging feeling that radiated throughout. My head decided to resume hurting with a vengeance.

'Still, you shouldn't be looking so upset, what's wrong?' He asked, catching me again.

I looked at him, he seemed very sincere, but that didn't mean anything. Anybody could look sincere without really meaning it. His frown and the way his eyes crinkled looked right, but how could I be sure that he was truthful?

I needed answers though, and there was no one else here that I knew to help me find them. I knew that I would need to trust him, even if it was only due to having no choice. It was still difficult- I didn't even know why he was helping me.

'Ah, I guess you want to be properly introduced.' I heard him exclaim. 'Okay, I'm Luckiness, but everyone calls me Lucky, so you can too.' He exclaimed again. He waited for a second for me to introduce myself. I didn't.

For a while, he just waited, then decided to speak again. 'Um, anyway…'I heard him falter. 'I think I already know you from somewhere, from when I was still alive but I'm not sure. I haven't seen her for a long time. Is by any chance your name Liddel?'

For a minute, I listened without really understanding. This really was the land of the dead, but not only that, but he thought he knew me. He was wrong of course, because that wasn't my name.

I told him so in that many words. He turned away.

'But I really think you are.' I heard him say. 'You look like her if she'd grown older and I'm pretty sure she survived beyond me, but maybe I'm wrong…'

For a second all was silent. We were both thinking. I was thinking about the many things that I'd been thinking about all the time here, with the inclusion of the thought that I was in the presence of a crazy person. I wasn't sure what he was thinking.

This silence was broken when he spun around and pointed at me: 'I know! Liddel had a very cute smile; if you can smile as cute as her then you _are_ her.' He yelled, keeping the smile on his face while he did so.

Well today was certainly the day for surprises- it's just that none of them had been good. This conversation was just making my headache worse. Good intentions or not, even I had to admit he was annoying.

'I'm not Liddel. You don't know me. Please just leave me alone. Please.' I said to him. It was harder to think of what to say when I was hurting.

The next thing that happened was a look of puzzlement, then he reached forward and tried to grab my cheeks, presumably to get me to smile. His plan failed because his hands went straight through me.

Another puzzled look: 'but I can't leave you alone, you're sad. It would be silly to leave you alone, besides, I think you're Liddel.' He commented, tilting his head. His smile had disappeared, and was a frown again.

For a jiffy we waited. My headache was still hurting, but it was going away a bit now. He just waited for me to respond. I sighed and remarked 'If I do smile, will you leave me alone? I'm just not in a very good mood today and I might yell at you if you don't.' I remembered how I'd gotten angry at Tarutarus birthday and hurt his feelings. I didn't like the idea of doing that again, even with this crazy creature.

'Okay.' He said. 'But wait, what if you're Liddel. Do I still leave you alone?'

I thought for a second. 'If I am Liddel, then could you tell me how you know me please?'

'Okay then. I'll definitely do that.' He remarked.

I thought about more happy things now. Helping my mother with cooking one night, the same night we ended up eating leftovers because I'd turned on the oven too high and burnt everything. The day when I first became friends with Tarutaru. The time I was able to make a really pretty artwork in Goody Good's class, which got praised by dad and hung up on the hallway wall…

'Ah, you really can smile. At first I thought you couldn't but you can Liddel.' I heard him say. At first I didn't think about it too much, then I realised: He'd called me Liddel again.

'So my smile did look like hers…' I mumbled. Apparently it was loud enough for him to hear.

'Of course you're Liddel; you do look a lot like her. It was the reason I came over here in the first place.' He said. So that was why he helped me before.

I went to sit down; he'd let my straps go a while ago. My legs had gotten used to standing. The only problem with this is that my legs didn't want to bend to sit down. I feel down instead, my legs stinging due to both the fall and being landed on uncomfortably. Wincing, I murmured out a question. 'What do you know about me then?'

He looked a bit confused at that moment, as if he needed to think. This just made me doubt him further. He could have been making up a story as he went along.

Next thing, he looked down, as if thinking about things that were sad. 'You were one of my best friends when I was alive. We would go everywhere together, you leading my hand and I dragging behind. I wasn't very brave, you see: Not like you. You were always brave, going into the river to fish for crabs with your dad, searching through the forest, looking for treasures.' He looked back at me, into my eyes and started talking again.

'Sometimes we'd get into more trouble than we could get ourselves out of, like the time we fell into a cave. You tried using me as a stepping-stone to get to the top of the hole at first, then gave up and started crying. That was a sad time, didn't think we'd _ever _get out. Lucky your dad was there, or that I'm lucky. Not sure which really.'

Suddenly, the smile appeared back on his face, though it looked a bit fake after that talk.

'Anyway, your parents' he said, drawing me back into his conversation. 'They'd like to meet you again for sure. Would you like to see them?'

'W-what do you mean?' I asked him, turning towards him again. I was curious, if he was telling the truth like I thought he was, then I'd actually be able to meet my original parents. But I wasn't sure whether I wanted too or not; I liked my parents, the ones who had taken care of me since before I could remember. At the same time, I wanted to know that there were others like me out there, ones that I knew and was related to.

'Your parents would like to see you I'm sure.' He said again. By this time, I believed him a bit more, the story sounded convincing, even if it didn't sound like me at all.

But a lot can change since before I can remember.

'Will you take me to see them?'

'For sure Miss Liddel' He said and went to grab my hands again. Once again they went straight through.

'Umm, I think I'll be able to walk by myself.' I told him. I didn't really believe that I'd be able to, I just wanted to get going.

Wordlessly, he started walking. Instead he hummed to himself. I followed him, my legs were working better now, they didn't seem to hurt at all, the only problem being they felt too light, like clouds.

When I got closer to him I asked him I went to tap him on the shoulder, then remembered that I couldn't. I wanted to ask him something.

'Hey, something wrong Liddel?' He said, turning around to face me.

'Nothing really, but could you please not call me that. My name's Rider and it feels a little uncomfortable to be called that…'

'No problems Lidde- I mean Rider.'

We walked off together into the trees. Or at least I think I walked, it wasn't just my legs feeling light anymore…

000000000

…

Everything changed. I do not know why.

All of a sudden I was no longer in a field with Lucky, instead I was somewhere else entirely different. I was lying down again and I thought at first that mum- my real mum had placed me here to sleep. Maybe this was a weird bed for dead people to sleep in.

Then reality once again started to set in. Maybe I'd been sleeping like I thought, but the field and Lucky were the dream. Where was I now?

I turned over onto my back and lifted my arms, which I could feel my sleeves on, trying to open the box. It wouldn't budge. I could feel something soft under me, like a mattress. I tried again to push the lid off, but it still wouldn't budge.

My head started aching again, but not as bad as it had been. I waited there for a while, trying to understand where I was. I was fairly certain that the field and Lucky and my parents was a dream, though it always seems more like a nightmare when I wake up from it. The dreams didn't happen very often thankfully, but when they did I always woke up before meeting my parents. That's why they were like nightmares; they make you believe what's going on is real then take it away again.

But what if that was real? If I was really dead, then where am I now?

It clicked.

I was in a coffin. It would explain why I wasn't able to get out and also why I couldn't hear anyone nearby, the reason being I was buried under six feet of earth.

For a second I just lay there, shocked. Then I started screaming. I wasn't just screaming though, I was thrashing and kicking at the walls of the coffin. The combined noise was incredibly loud; I just hoped someone on the surface could hear it.

I felt something hanging onto my leg. This mystery creature felt furry and I was sure it was a rat. The only difference was that this rat was speaking: 'Hey, Rider it's okay, it's okay. Please be quiet.'

In response I screamed louder and kicked until it was not hanging onto my leg anymore. This thing still kept trying to talk to me though, until I caught it with my foot and slammed it into the wall. Next thing I know, my mouth was shut for me. The rat had climbed back up onto my neck and was holding my mouth shut. Now I could only make muffled noises. I started ducking around, or at least as much as I could, trying to get the rat to let go of my mouth.

It didn't work.

'Please Rider it's just me. Please be quiet before they get in here.' I heard it say between shushing me and hanging on. I stopped making the noises, but started crying instead. I wanted to keep yelling, but I didn't know what to do with this rat on my face either. If I didn't listen, then it could tear me to shreds with its claws.

I looked to the side of the coffin, a light had appeared at a tiny slit near the top. Voices could be heard outside. _I must have alerted someone and they're rescuing me. _I thought. The rat started shushing me all the more when the light appeared through a tiny slit in the top of the lid . In a second I was able to see properly enough to see that it was Popoi stopping me from speaking.

He shushed me even more when he saw that I'd try and ask him questions and greet him with things such as _I never thought I'd see you again, Where are I? _

Soon, I wasn't even crying anymore, Popoi was here and he would protect me from anything bad that could happen. Besides that I was sure that I would be freed soon. But even after that, it took me a while to pay attention to the talking outside, I was just too glad to be safe.

'…Look, it just didn't sound like your voice dear. If it was you then it would be different somehow.' Said a female's voice.

'I think you mean lower pitched Hana.' Commented another, more male voice.

'_What a weird group of people.' _I thought. _'Are they talking to each other or to someone else?' _I wondered.

My question was answered when a different person spoke up: 'are you trying to say that I sound like a boy? What kind of a dad says _that_ to their daughter.' She yelled.

'I'm not saying that at all, it's just that when you yell, it's lower pitched. I'm not saying you're a boy at all.' The male replied. He sounded exasperated with the conversation.

'Then what_ are _you saying? Spit it out. Do you think I have boyfriends hiding here? Ones who scream like girls and are just waiting for you two to leave. Is that it?' She said. I could feel the blistering tension in the remarks.

'Ringo, don't talk like that.' I heard the lady yell. 'You usually don't behave like this, why now? All we want to know is why you were screaming and you're turning it into an argument.' She finished, somewhat lamely.

But who am I to judge, especially about how people talk.

For a small while, there was silence. At first I thought my rescuers had left and tried to ask Popoi. He just shushed me more and sat on my mouth. I thought about biting him, but decided that he would hate me afterwards if I did.

But then they started talking again.

'Look, dear, we're just worried. You usually don't have any problems at night and… well you've been acting strange recently. It worries me. I thought maybe you were being hurt by someone, maybe someone broke through the window. I'm sure that's what your father thought too.'

Another silence. It was getting to be a regular occurrence. I wondered when they would stop both talking or standing around silently and let me out.

'Mum, I just had a bad dream okay, I'm getting older now so don't worry about my voice or me. Besides, next time don't try to knock the door down please. Its just courtesy. Goodnight, mum and dad.'

I heard the people walking, saying "Goodnights" as they went. I hoped what I was hearing was wrong- the footsteps were going away from me, not towards me. That hope vanished when the small amount of light I could see vanished, leaving me in darkness.

I panicked and started struggling against Popoi. He wouldn't let go even when I was trying to pull him away. I'd had hope, then lost it, then regained it and it looked like it was going to be lost again. When would life not tease me into thinking that everything would be all right?

However, while it was dark another person was in the room. I could hear this person lifting unknown objects off of the top of the coffin thing. I guessed this would be the person called Ringo, the one they were talking about before they left. Just after that, I stopped struggling with Popoi.

I was relieved, but also scared. I didn't know her, or at least didn't think I did. Still, being out there with a stranger would be much better than staying in here and dying.

Soon after, the sound of objects being moved stopped and the lid was lifted off instead. Above me stood a somewhat familiar red haired girl. Weren't she friends with the fishy person? The lid was placed on the ground, Popoi jumped off my mouth and I sat up. This was really strange; I had no idea of what was happening or why. Everything that had or was happening didn't seem to be connected at all except for a few events.

'_Still, this girl must be Ringo and she'll tell me what's happening.' _I told myself.

She spoke first: 'I'm glad they went back to sleep.' She muttered. 'Popoi, why weren't you keeping a better eye on her? You said that she'd probably wake up soon, so why weren't you ready. This incident could have ruined everything, and you just let it happen.' She whispered angrily, looking at Popoi fiercely.

He looked away from her and turned to me, as if seeing if I would speak. I did.

'Umm, excuse me Miss Ringo, but what happened to make me end up here?' I asked. There were other questions I wanted answered, but this one was the best to ask first due to it being the most general. She looked like she was going to ignore the question for a minute to lecture Popoi again, but then answered.

'Well, I don't really know myself.' She said and looked at me, still whispering. 'I was walking around the streets and I found Popoi first. He had wandered through the prefecture looking for help and had found me. He'd said something about using magic to find me, and that he needed help with an unconscious student. Personally I think we should have taken you to hospital, even with knowing they'd take you away. But nooo said the cat puppet, we can't take her there; it would be useless; she won't di-'

'Ringo…Please just get on with the story.' Said Popoi in an agitated whisper.

'Alright then.' She said. 'Anyway, he led me back, with a little help when he got lost, and I took you home and hid you in my old toy box while I decided what to do with you.'

This made me feel silly. It wasn't a coffin- just a toy box. Still, most toy boxes, when laid in would be uncomfortable due to the toys making a lumpy area. This one didn't feel like that at all. What a strange toy box…

I waited for a bit, thinking of another question. 'Was there any strange creatures around when you found me.'

'No, nothing was there. Why do you ask?' She said after looking away at Popoi and turning back to me.

'N-no reason…' I said. I didn't want to be seen as crazy. If I said that to her, I would be seen that way.

I heard creaking a long way away. Was it the other people, Ringos' mother and father? She heard it too and turned towards the sound, as did Popoi. Nothing else happened; the door didn't open and no more sounds happened that were similar.

'Anyway, this is very strange, isn't it?' She remarked as she turned back to me. 'Though I've already heard most of the story from Popoi, so don't worry about that.' That was nice, because I was wondering when I'd have to tell her. I wasn't really wanting to at all, telling those things to a near stranger, especially how I'd just left Tarutaru behind…

She turned to Popoi: 'Still, you said that once she was awake we could leave and go looking for them, that it would be easier with more people. Especially one whom the enemy-guy seems to like somewhat.' She finished, then looked back at me: 'are you okay with that plan, or are you still hurt from the fall?' I looked down at myself- I wasn't hurt, no matter what happened in the dream, but then again the pain from my dream could have been influenced from the fall.

'No, I'm fine…' I said, looking away for a second at Popoi. I wanted to tell him about the strange thing from before, the one that could be a dream. He wouldn't consider me crazy and would be able to help me. After all, being Mrs Accord's puppet, he would either have taught her a lot or learnt a lot from her. He would definitely have an answer as to what happened before.

'Well, if you're not hurt, we should be able to leave tomorrow and search for any missing people or this weird guy Popoi was talking about.' She said, hopefulness sounding in her whisper.

'W-what do you mean, what's the rest of the plan, where am I even? And who are you anyway? Why should I trust you?' I asked repeatedly, getting louder every word due to panic. I didn't know her and was supposed to go out and search for the guy, Cadel. I wasn't sure what I should do, whether I should go with her or stay away. After all, he was dangerous and had promised next time to kill me like he was told to.

Popoi decided to start speaking again: 'Rider, please calm down unless you want them to be back in here.' He said, referring to the parents from before. 'Look, we'll tell you everything soon okay. Just not now. It's too late for one, where Ringo should be sleeping. And Ringo, it would be better to say these things when she, referring to Rider, is calmer, not now. She just woke up and would be disoriented from having to heal so quickly. Do both of you agree with me?' He asked, looking from me to Ringo.

We both said 'Okay.'

'Good, because I'm going back to sleep. You should too, because if you two stay up all night chatting, you'll be too tired tomorrow to actually do anything. It's been four days and for all we know time could be running out for the missing people.' He finished, even when he was whispering he managed to sound sarcastic somewhat, though I'm not sure if it was just me.

Everyone went quiet after that, I laid back down on my side, Popoi lay next to my back and Ringo put the lid back on the box, putting out any light from the windows or from eyes gotten used to the dark. I didn't here anything heavy being moved around again, and just to check it, I pressed against the lid, it moved upwards. Letting in some light.

'Don't do that please Rider.' Whispered Popoi. I put the lid down, but left it tilted a bit so that some light from a window fell across us. Popoi didn't complain so I left it like that.

'Hey, Popoi.' I whispered back; 'why do I have to be in here with the lid closed?'

'You have to because Ringos' parents don't know you're here. There have been some close calls, none as close as before, but they haven't figured it out yet thankfully. If they see you, they'll take you away, just like most people in this world would.'

I thought about that for a bit longer. The people from before could take me away? And I'd been so sure they would save me before. I felt doubly silly. Then I remembered what Id wanted to talk to Popoi about and decided that now was the best time.

'…Popoi, I have something to tell you.' I said, turning over form my side to face him.

'Can it please wait until tomorrow Rider? It's really really late at night.' He said, not turning to face me. I still tried to talk to him after that, but he ignored me. He was really determined to get some sleep, maybe it was because he was a cat puppet.

Disheartened, I gave up, turned over and tried to get some sleep too. Instead I started thinking about what Lucky had said: How once upon a time I'd been brave and adventurous.

I still couldn't see myself being like that, even when I tried to think about myself that way. Maybe one day I'd see it, but not now.

I spent the rest of the night trying to not think about it or the Amitie- thing and get to sleep.

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Only thing I can say here is that I'm sorry the chapter update took so long, I kind of got lazy during the middle of last month and combined with this chapter just being difficult for me it didn't turn out well. I'll try to keep to a monthly schedule though; it allows me time to do what I need to do, excluding this chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up once again in a strange place, except this time I knew where I was: I was in Ringos' room, with Popoi at my back. I once again lay there without opening my eyes, just dozed for a bit, with the light from the gap on top shining down through the lids of my shut eyes.

Eventually, I heard Popoi turning behind my back and say 'it's time get up Rider, big day today.' It struck me because of how he sounded so sad in a way, with his low tone of voice. I didn't comment however; he would hate that.

I went to sit up after nodding my head at him, then stopped just in time to not bump my head on the lid. I looked through the gap in the lid, getting my first real look at Ringos' room, or at least her roof. It looked pretty, but really unlike my own, with posters all over the roof, nearly hiding the light blue wallpaper. The colour reminded me of the blue in Tarutarus' room. I couldn't see the rest of the roof without taking the lid off, so I listened and waited, alert for any noises that meant Ringos' parents were back again. I heard nothing so I lifted the lid up slowly, just in case. Nothing was there, so I leant over the side of the toy box and looked at the walls. More posters decorated them, though the wallpaper had changed somewhat, having swirls of other colours through it now. The wallpaper was not much different from Tarutarus' room, but I couldn't start thinking about him. I'd only just woken up- it would be bad of me to start crying again this early.

I heard Popoi moving backwards from the light, he sniffed, as if certain that now the parents would walk right in and catch us. I wasn't that silly, I was keeping my ears out for them.

Looking down: I found the heavy things that could have held the lid down last night. It was a bunch of thick books that I'd once heard Klug refer to as "Doorstoppers" as well as what looked like a really thin and foldable television-like thing connected to a cable. I looked closer at the books; they were all about math things from what I could tell from the titles, except for a few novels, once again judging by the titles.

I looked to my right; there was a bed where the girl, Ringo, was. She was sleeping, from the way she had her eyes shut. Above her was a window, which explained where the light was coming from, as there was only this one large window amidst some tinier ones to the sides.

She stirred; I ducked down. I heard her yawn and heard the bed squeaking as she presumably got up. Footsteps approached the bed.

'Hello there Rider, it's a bit early isn't it?' She asked me, looking over the toy box at me. I tried to shrink back further, but there's only so low even a small person like me can get before it's impossible to get lower. _'__Besides__'_ I said to myself _'__She__'__s __not __a __bad __person, __she__'__s __helped __me __out __a __lot __apparently. __I __shouldn't __be __frightened __of __her.__'_ I stopped trying to make myself smaller after that. Then I blinked and remembered she'd asked me a question.

'Umm, yes, it is a bit early.' I said in reply to her. She didn't respond, even after waiting. This made me feel pretty uneasy, most people would respond when talked too, even if it took a little while.

'I'm sorry if I woke you up early. I-I was just looking around at your room when I woke up.' I blurted out to her, maybe this was why she wasn't talking to me, maybe she thought I was horrible or something.

She looked at me. 'Oh, sorry. I'm still kind of asleep, what were you talking about?' She asked. I blushed and Popoi sniggered behind me. I felt so silly, she wasn't upset with me or wanting an apology; she was just tired.

She yawned again and looked around at the door. It was shut, as well as looking the same as the roof. I wondered why she'd shut it.

'Well, I guess my parents haven't made any late night visits here. Thank goodness for that anyway.' She whispered, turning back to me. 'Anyway, probably time to get ready; Popoi and Rider. It's still pretty early, maybe mum and dad aren't up yet.' She went over to a cupboard, opened it and started taking out clothes quietly.

'Wait a minute, Ringo.' Whispered Popoi, climbing onto the edge of the toy box. 'Your parents start work earlier than this though, Don't they? Wouldn't they be up by now, then?' He asked her, and jumped out of the box, walking closer to her. I hoped they wouldn't be up like Popoi said; they might be like my parents, who would come in and wake up their children instead of using alarm clocks.

'It's the weekend, they don't work now.' She murmured, not looking down at Popoi.

Instead she grabbed more clothes out and dumped them on the floor. They were of all sorts; skirts, shirts, school uniforms, shorts, cardigans, jumpers and jackets. None of them looked really well cared for, from what I could tell. I saw when they were on the ground that many of them had patches sewn into them or had rips and tears. Even I didn't think they looked very good, and I wasn't even good with fashion sense myself. How many times had Raffine pointed out flaws in my clothes to me again?

I looked to Popoi, wondering what he was thinking. He was looking at the clothes like I had been. Unlike me, he asked a question: 'Ringo, what are all the clothes for? Are they perhaps disguises?' He asked, then looked back to her, awaiting an answer.

'Yeah, they are disguises. After all, if we leave here like planned, then when my parents wake up they're going to start searching for me.' She answered. 'After all, it isn't that often I go missing.' After saying that she winced, then muttered 'I hope I'll not be away for too long though, I don't want to worry them too much.'

She stopped after that then she pulled out the last garment, dropped it in the pile and started rummaging through them. She stopped sounding sad as much and changed to a more leader-like voice. 'Rider, grab whichever clothes you think will hide your most prominent features.' She said, looking up at me for just a second. I took a little bit to realise that she was talking about my horns and ears. I wondered why she said that, wrapping my hair around my horns had been okay in Primp Town, and nobody commented on my ears. After all, people with weird ears aren't that uncommon in Primp Town. I'd gotten teased about them, but that hadn't been happening recently, neither had the teasing about my horns.

"_Still, __maybe __this __world __is __different__''_ I thought _"__after __all, __Ringo __was __really __concerned __about __her __parents __finding __me, __and __so __was __Popoi. __Maybe __people __like __me __aren__'__t __all __that __common __here,__wherever __here __is...__"_ I wondered to myself.

I decided I would ask her where I was. Asking about whether I wasn't or was common here would be silly when everything was making it look as if I'm not.

'Miss Ringo, where exactly am I?' I asked her.

'You're in my room, in my parents house, above the Andou Greengrocers and in Suzuran Shopping District.' She answered simply. Then seeing that I wasn't grabbing any clothes for myself, she searched through the pile and grabbed some for me, placing them on my lap. 'Try these on. They are some really old clothes from when I was little, maybe they'll fit you.' She then wandered over to the other side of her cupboard and dragged out a backpack that looked to be from school, as well as a slightly newer looking one.

I looked at the clothes- they were really old. A hooded jacket and skirt were there. Both of them had faded colours as well as rips and tears.

'Well, put them on so I can see if they fit.' She said.

I didn't want to get changed into them, mostly because she was looking at me. Couldn't she at least turn away from me? I waited for a bit longer to see if she would. After all, wasn't it creepy to look at others when they 're changing? Even when my class and Accords class combined for HPE, when getting changed we wouldn't stare at each other.

She didn't turn away. I grabbed the clothes and went to put them on, regardless. I was just going to have to try and ignore her, after all, she wasn't turning away and Popoi wasn't going to help by the looks. I tried to ignore him not helping as well.

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Soon, we were on our way to wherever we were going. I'd changed clothes, as had Ringo, we'd snuck down to the fridge to fill bottles of water and grab a few snacks that Ringo said wouldn't be noticed gone, and I still had no idea what was going on. It was annoying me; they were keeping secrets from me I guess, or just hadn't taken the time to tell me anything important. Ringo was walking in front of me, leading the way through the streets. Not many people were up, and no body noticed us walking away. I was glad not many were up as Ringo hadn't found a disguise for Popoi, just saying that he'd look like a doll and nobody would notice him.

I couldn't be annoyed for long however. From my shoulder, Popoi decided that now was the time to start speaking about what I had been missing:

'Okay, what we're going to do is search through Ringos' city or even further, and look for any magical phenomenon that's around.' He whispered in a rush.

I didn't think that this idea would really work, because Cadel and the classmates could be anywhere, wouldn't it take ages to find them? I didn't say anything about it however. I could see from the way Popoi was looking around that he was pretty stressed over everything. I'd ask him later, maybe.

Still, I was happy I was told something, even if this something wasn't much. And the scenery was pretty too. There were so many huge buildings in the city where Ringo lived; most of them had some kind of decoration on them and all of them looked like something special, at least to me. They looked completely different to how the buildings in Primp Town looked.

I'd been so busy looking at all the things around me that I didn't realise that Popoi had jumped off my shoulder and onto Ringo's until it was too late. He had already been in mid jump by the time I felt him moving. He must have decided no one was watching him.

I looked away from him and just continued walking. I felt a bit left out though, even though I didn't want to admit it. I'd been asleep for a few days and left out of the decision-making, which I would have liked to be in even if I didn't contribute much, and Popoi and Ringo were now a lot closer, almost like friends…

I shook my head, it wouldn't matter so much if Tarutaru or Amitie or any of my friends were with me. But they weren't. I sniffed. I hated it how I was always on the verge of crying over everything. It didn't change anything- Amitie was who knows where and Tarutaru could even be dead by now, if he couldn't get away or walk back through the woods, or if a creature got him…

I sighed and stopped thinking about it. Either way, it didn't matter. I'd just have to stop thinking about it and focus on what we're supposed to be doing. If I focused on Tarutaru, I might get upset and go red faced, or even worse, start crying.

So I stopped focusing on him, or tried at least. I continued to look at all the buildings and surroundings, not as much for their prettiness, but looking for any magical phenomenon around, as Popoi worded it.

We walked for ages, and still kept walking. My feet were hurting again, just like when I was walking through the woods. Neither Popoi nor Ringo suggested stopping for a break, so I stayed silent. If they didn't want to stop then who was I to make them? I could hear them talking up ahead, but I didn't want to listen and eavesdrop on them.

Eventually, I heard Popoi saying to both of us that he'd felt something magical nearby. He'd turned around and started looking for it. We waited. Ringo turned towards me slightly, and mouthed 'what's happening to him. I thought he could just tell where people were.'

I pretended not to hear her. I just wasn't in a good mood.

After a while I heard him say 'this way' and saw him point to his right into an alleyway. Ringo walked in that direction, resuming her conversation with him and I followed. We passed many of buildings similar to before, except they were now looking a bit more…wild in a way. They looked like some of the houses seen back on the outskirts of Primp town, but at the same time different. They reminded me of my own home in a way, in that most of them were double story. We passed through the streets and ended up in a park.

Soon we had found what Popoi had been looking for.

Amitie was curled up on a park bench underneath one of the old trees. I could only tell it was her because of her hair being the same as it always was. Popoi and Ringo went closer, and I followed. Amitie appeared to be asleep on the bench; she was lying down with her hands and hoodie acting as a pillow. I wondered what Amitie was doing there. I figured she must have escaped from Cadel somehow, or been abandoned.

Still, I was glad to see her. Or at least I was.

Because when we got over there and tried to stir her, she wouldn't wake up. She just lay there. From what I could see of Ringo from behind her, she was getting frustrated. She shook her some more and was muttering things under her breath, about how Amitie must wake up and some other things I couldn't understand. Popoi was now on Amities' neck, looking at her weirdly. I wondered why she wouldn't wake up, and whether it had anything to do with that dream I'd had.

I shivered, hoping this was a coincidence and that she'd wake up soon.

Ringo was getting even more flustered. She stopped shaking Amitie and turned to Popoi: 'what is happening to her, why isn't she responding? Is she like how Rider was?' She asked quickly.

Popoi looked over Amitie for a bit longer, then answered Ringo. 'I don't know really. I can guess though.'

He turned to me. 'Rider, do you remember what Raffine was like?' I nodded. How could I forget?

'Well' He continued, 'one of the people in the cave, either Cadel or Mistress, was saying something about hypnosis wearing off early on Raffine due to her magic not being "native" to her. I think they were referring to her pouch; she uses magic from that, not from her soul. But at the same time, I should have been able to sense her just like the others, except her pouch was gone…'

He looked around, from me to Ringo. From his look, it was to make sure we understood him. He still waited, as if unsure how to say what he wanted to. That confused me; Popoi was almost never lost for words.

'…Well, I think Amitie was placed under the same hypnosis, which is lasting longer for her because she her magic is from the soul. At the same time, I think that Cadel was taking magic from the students for some kind of deed, and ditching them when all their magic was gone. This would be why Amitie cannot be sensed anymore; with her magic stolen, nobody could think she's more than an average human girl.'

'Now hang on!' Exclaimed Ringo. 'You said you can't sense her, yet you found her by sensing magic. I think your theory is wrong. Either she has magic or she doesn't have magic. She can't be both states at the same time unless this is like Schrodingers cat, but with magic.'

Popoi shook his head, then focused on Ringo. 'I couldn't sense her. I could sense something magical around here though. Magical power does not always come from a human, sometimes it comes from residual magic left over from a match, puyo or otherwise, or when some large phenomenon has happened, like teleportation or similar things.' He finished, then went back to Amitie: 'I wonder what we could do to wake her up? She might be able to say something really interesting about what is happening to the others, or what happened to her at least.'

We just were silent for a while. I go a bit closer to Amitie, but not too close. She was my friend, but I wasn't sure if she would try to hurt me again, like in that dream. She could be faking, waiting for me to get closer. She didn't move however.

Ringo backed away a bit, and turned to ask Popoi a question. 'So what are we going to do with her? I mean, if she's asleep then we're going to either have to stay here or take her with us, and that won't be easy. The only advantage I can think of is that it's still early morning and not many people are up to see her.' She said quickly.

I thought that she was being a bit silly then; did she think we actually could carry Amitie? Maybe she could, but I was certain that I couldn't, and Popoi wouldn't be able to help either.

'I don't really know what we're going to do really.' Popoi said. It didn't worry me as much anymore, him saying that, because Popoi didn't seem to know much about anything anymore. Most of what he was saying was guesswork, something that could be wrong and leave us with no idea of where to go or what was happening.

Ringo, however, did look a bit worried from what I could see. 'Well, I guess we should move her out of the way. People might walk by soon, see her and assume she has run away from home. If they do, then they might try to get the police involved.' She leant over Amitie and I wondered what she was doing until I heard her say; 'could you please help me, Rider.' and grab her feet.

So I did. I was surprised when I picked her up that she wasn't as heavy as I thought she would be. My thought that I wouldn't be able to carry her turned out to be false.

Or at least kinda did. I was still dragging behind a bit, my arms were hurting before long and Ringo was still doing most of the work of making sure she stayed in the air. Still, when we did manage to carry her to a nearby forestry-like place, which was too small to be an actual forest.

After that I was feeling better than usual. I'd done something useful and what's more, Popoi said that I'd done well too after thanking Ringo, which was nice, even though I hadn't been much help. I'd said, 'you're welcome.' The only problem was that after hiding Amitie in the trees, we weren't sure what else to do:

'Well, we've found Amitie, should we go out and look for others that could also be here, or just stay here and wait with her?' Asked Ringo, looking at Popoi.

'I'm not sure; maybe there are others around…' Said Popoi. Then he turned to me. 'Rider, would you like to stay here with Amitie for a bit.' I looked at him strangely; I didn't want to be left behind with Amitie, even if the attack was only in my dream. Ringo also looked at him, and she decided to start speaking:

'Popoi, Do you think it would be okay to leave Rider behind? Would she just leave Amitie and wander off somewhere? Would she panic and go looking for us?' What if anyone did find her, would she be able to get out of that situation?'

I looked down. I didn't like the way she was discussing me. It was as if I wasn't there, or was not able to hear what she was saying. Even though I didn't want to stay with Amitie, I still resented the way Ringo was talking. She hadn't even known me for a day, and here she was making guesses about me.

I took a breath and wondered just how I could be so annoyed. It wasn't like me to be like this. Those things are all things I wouldn't usually get _too_upset about.

Popoi then decided to answer her question, after taking a jiffy to think. 'Well no Ringo, I've known Rider for a lot longer than you and I think she'd be okay with Amitie by herself. Besides, I can't go by myself, and no one can sense magical presence like me.' I heard him shifting, presumably towards me. 'Rider will be fine here, won't you Rider?' He asked.

I didn't answer for a jiffy; I felt as if backed into a corner. On one hand, Ringo was saying that I'd be incapable of staying here with Amitie, on the other hand, Popoi believed that I could. And it didn't matter that I didn't want to stay here- I'd prefer to prove Ringo wrong and Popoi right, even if that meant staying here.

I looked up and answered: 'Oh, I-I'll be fine staying here Popoi.' and wanted to hit myself for stuttering. It made me look like I was lying, which was true, but I didn't want Popoi to know that.

I waited while he looked at me strangely. After a bit, he turned away and said 'well, if that's okay with you then. Come on, Ringo. We ought to be going then.' He then jumped into her hands and she put him in a smaller purse-like bag she was carrying over her shoulder.

She looked back at me, then walked away.

I was left with Amitie.

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The only good thing about that time I can remember is that Amitie didn't suddenly burst back to life and try to kill me. However she did wake up.

I had been sitting there, wondering what Ringo and Popoi were doing. Maybe they'd found another classmate, or even just another person who went missing from primp town? This thought wasn't one I'd be thinking about for to long, without answers. I'd usually get bored of not being able to figure it out and stop. But I preferred to think about it than think about what Amitie could do when she woke up, or about what could've happened to Tarutaru, or how my parents were going without me...

And then she woke up, and nothing happened. She just lay there, looking at the treetops. She made no noises and no other movements than opening her eyes. I didn't even know when she woke up; I just noticed her eventually with her eyes open. It was scary seeing her like that. It made me start thinking about how she could have woken up and gone for me, would I have noticed she was awake then?

I could only hope the answer was _"__yes.__"_

Pretty soon, however, I stopped being scared by Amitie being awake. If she wanted to attack me, she would've by then. I got a bit closer and focused more on listening out for people, and for thinking when Popoi and Ringo would be back.

They didn't come back for a long time. Towards the end, I'd stopped thinking about important things like Amitie, Popoi and Ringo, Cadel and what he was planning, and started to think about Tarutaru, hunger and how I was going to return home.

At that time, I instead started imagining that I was already home. That me, Popoi and Tarutaru had found Raffine like the real life version, but instead she'd been reasonable and we'd gone on a nice adventure that involved playing puyo with a variety of people who gave us clues on where to go to find the rest of the students. I was just starting to imagine why the students had gone there when I heard rustling in the bushes nearby. I stopped thinking about my silly fantasy and realized just how long I'd been sitting in the same place. I felt like I was going numb.

I looked to them after turning around and waited for something to happen. I was sure whether it would be Ringo and Popoi or something more sinister.

I looked away when I heard Ringos' voice- it was just her and Popoi coming back from their journey. After a few seconds, their voices cleared up and I heard them scrambling through the closest bushes

'Well, that was absolutely pointless.' I heard Ringo say. The tone had a sarcastic ring to it, even though it probably wasn't.

Popoi just murmured something back to her that, even though he was relatively close, I couldn't understand.

The next instant, they were sitting down nearby again, having said a rushed greeting to me. I raised my head and said hi back. After that their attention was quickly turned from me to Amitie. I decided to tell them about what she had done, even though it was basically nothing. They might think afterwards that I was more interesting to talk to.

'She woke up between about halfway through the time you had left and returned.' I said. I tried my best to sound confidant, but I don't think it worked, because they didn't look at me or anything, just at Amitie.

After that, everyone went silent. I thought maybe I'd made a mistake in speaking to them. Had I done something wrong? I was about to ask them about that when Ringo spoke up:

'We found nothing out there. Every time we found some magical phenomenon, it was just residual from a long time ago. No other persons were found, and when I went to visit Maguro and Risukuma to see if they knew anything important, they couldn't help us either.' She looked down, looking disheartened. 'Even now they can't help us.' She murmured.

It was like the temperature had dropped by a few degrees, my hands felt strangely cold without the sleeves covering them; even though I wasn't feeling that kindly towards Ringo, I still felt sorry for her. I wondered if she were friends with those people mentioned. I wanted to ignore what she was feeling, like I'd tried to when she was talking to me, but it didn't work.

I looked at her and tried to smile convincingly. 'It'll be okay Miss Ringo. They might not be able to help you now, but maybe they'll help you later.' I knew it didn't sound like much, but I had to try and help make her feel better.

She looked back up at me and smiled. It wasn't a huge smile, but at least I knew then that she was trying to believe what I said. 'Thanks Rider, though I'm not sure how…maybe in a chemistry project? But then again, I'd probably be helping them more.' She giggled after that, and I did too. I didn't get the joke; but some laughs are contagious. The only one who didn't laugh was Popoi. I looked over to him to see if he was angry about something, but he looked happy- or at least happier than he had been.

Ringo seemed to jump a bit, even though she was still seated. She clicked her fingers and said; 'oh, I forgot. It's just after lunch time isn't it?'

I couldn't answer, as I didn't know what time it was. I could guess it was around lunchtime, but that was all. I couldn't even see where the sun was in the sky. Even though there weren't many trees in the forest, they were very thick. Ether way, even if I knew the answer I wouldn't have got time because Ringo decided to answer her own question:

'I'm pretty sure it is.' She said and grinned. Then she dived into her backpack and grabbed out three packages. I could smell that they had something interesting in them, though I couldn't place what it was.

Ringos' grin seemed to get bigger as she placed one of the packages in front of me then said 'one for you', then placed one in front of Amitie after shuffling towards her; 'just in case she wants to eat', and then she sat back where her back was and placed one in front of herself; 'and one for me.'

I stopped looking at what Ringo was doing and focused on my package. Whatever was in it really did smell nice; though I wasn't able to figure out what it was by smell. I had a feeling this was the lunch we were supposed to have. The box was covered in funny looking cartoons that didn't have any clues about what would be inside.

I looked back up at Ringo. She had already opened her box and had taken out a plastic fork to eat with. I assumed mine would have one too. I wasn't sure if by asking her about what was in mine I'd be disturbing her. She didn't seem to notice I was looking at her, though Popoi did. In the end I decided to ask, even though I wasn't sure whether it would be considered rude by her.

'Excuse me Miss Ringo, but what kind of food is in these boxes?' I asked her. I'd been careful to phrase it so she couldn't answer something like "it's food obviously" like Raffine once had said to me.

After I said that, she looked up at me and answered my question. 'Well in my lunch, I have some apple pie, my only problem being they didn't also pack a knife with the fork.' She rolled her eyes. 'Anyway, I got you some ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches because I wasn't sure what you liked. I also got the same for Amitie as well.' She finished.

At least I know what the smell is now. I said to myself after thanking Ringo. I opened up the box and had a look in. True to her word, some ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches were in there, about two rounds of them. They kind of reminded me of the sandwiches I would sometimes take to school if Mum had run out of other things to eat. I was glad that this was something I was familiar with- I thought it would be something really weird at first.

Soon I was eating the sandwiches. It even tasted the same as I remember it. Ringo continued eating her pie, Popoi just looked at us while lying on Ringos' bag, and Amitie continued to lay there, her sandwiches going untouched.

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After lunch, Popoi wanted to go out looking for classmates that could be nearby; the only difference from last time being that I was taken with him, not Ringo. He'd said that he had a pretty good idea of how to get back, and if he got lost he could just follow Ringos' magical presence. It was fun walking around and looking at everything again. I felt a lot better than I had earlier, whether just because of the food or because I didn't have as much of a problem with Ringo anymore. I smiled and thought that it probably was because of that silly fantasy before. I didn't change anything; Tarutaru would still be out there or hurt and my parents would still be missing me, but the fantasy made it go away fro a bit.

But anyway, the things I'd thought so annoying and rude earlier were… I don't know, not as important. We weren't friends or anything; I still hardly knew her, but I felt better.

When we were walking along, looking around for anything magical, he decided to talk about what I'd just been thinking about: 'It's nice that you're not being so distant to Ringo now, Rider. She'd asked me while I was with her why you were being so different to what I'd said you'd be.' He commented from inside my hoodie. After all, having a Puppet cat out would be a strange sight here if I was.

I didn't answer for a jiffy; I wasn't sure myself why, even though I'd been thinking about it. That's the thing about thinking about why you or I or anyone does things- you never know if your mind is telling the truth or lying just to mess with you. And even if you find the truth, it's mixed with a bunch of other "truths" and I really don't know which is which.

That's why I couldn't answer.

I looked down a bit, while still keeping my eyes in front of me looking ahead. 'I'm not really sure why I wasn't nice to her Popoi.' I looked around- I swore I heard something to my right. Popoi looked too, then we must have decided it was nothing and continued walking. We walked in silence for a while.

'Anyway, I'm just glad you're getting along with her now.' Said Popoi, moving forwards a bit so I could see him without anyone else being able to. 'I'm also glad that you're behaving so mature too. For a while, I thought I'd have a whiny brat on my, metaphorical, hands.'

I looked away from him for a second, focusing on the buildings to the side and the footpath ahead of us. I hadn't been behaving that badly. I'd been a bit cold, but that was it. And wasn't I trying to be nice when I first talked to her in the morning?

Before I could ask him about that, he decided to answer first. 'I know you're going to be thinking I'm being a bit harsh, but last night you were being a bit rude. I know it was because you were scared, but I still expected better. What's more, Ringo did too. And then you started being rude and distant when we left too…. I wasn't sure if that meant you had problems or anything- you never say when you dislike something or have a problem with someone or something, you just stand there and say nothing. And this isn't just a "here" thing either, this goes on at school too.' He stopped talking, and took a breath, though it might have just been a fake sigh. 'What I'm thinking is that now, you being nice to Ringo, is it just a temporary thing? You didn't have time to talk about what was wrong with her, so at first I thought you'd just compromised with yourself, but even now you could be hating her and hiding it. Is that what you're doing Rider?' He asked, sounding as if he almost forgot to whisper.

I still kept looking ahead, but answered a lot quicker this time: 'No, that isn't it. 'I said to Popoi. 'I was angry because of, well… A few things really.'

I didn't really want to talk about it to him; I figured I would just be whiny then. So for a while, neither of us talked, until he said; 'go on, if there's something bothering you anyway.'

I sighed, and looked forwards so that I could walk and not draw any attention to myself. 'Well there is a problem: Tarutaru- we just left him there, What if he never managed to get back? We've been here for days, if he was still there then he could have dehydrated or been killed by the animals, and that's not even mentioning my parents…what could they be going through? They thought I was studying, and then I just don't show up. They could even think I'm dead by now, they probably do even… And what about Ms Accord? What will happen to her if we never get back to Primp Town? What will happen to _us_ if we never get back to Primp Town?'

I looked at him, for a second. He needed to have the answers to these questions, because I didn't have them.

After a second, he did at least try to stop me worrying: 'Rider, I'm sure Tarutaru will be fine. He wasn't hurt so badly that he couldn't walk, just that he couldn't run after Raffine. That's why he was left there, not because he was too injured to move. And your parents? When Tarutaru got back, he would have explained to your parents that we were looking for students and that me and you chased after Raffine. While this wouldn't stop them from thinking you're dead, it does let them know _some_ of what was going on. He wouldn't have kept it a secret if it would cause others to be in pain, he isn't like that. Accord? She'll know that we'll be fine, and if she doesn't, I'll explain when we get home. And we _will_ get home somehow Rider. Even though I'm not sure _how_ at the moment, you just have to trust me on this, okay?'

I nodded, hoping he could see it under the hoodie. He was right, but it would still be difficult not to worry about these things. I would just have to trust him to solve these problems, as well as try to not let my bad mood rub off on Ringo.

So we continued walking along after that. Popoi stayed silent about those issues, instead only commenting when he felt something, or when he heard something weird. I did the same, except I didn't sense any magic or anything.

In the end, we'd been walking for ages. My feet were hurting and the sun was setting again. We'd found nothing. The only magical things were just from previous things, not from anything recent. Then again, if Popoi was right and he couldn't sense them anymore, then we wouldn't be able to find them easily anyway.

Eventually, he whispered to go back to the forestry place, giving me directions under his breath. We got back after a while and I was able to rest my feet. We just had some snacks Ringo had taken for dinner. I looked over at Amitie; she still wasn't awake. I hoped she wouldn't wake up when we fell asleep. I said so to Ringo.

'Oh, don't worry, I've thought about this situation before leaving.' She said, after finishing her snack, which was a chocolate bar. I'd finished mine even earlier than her, which was odd; other people usually beat me at eating food, not the other way around.

She grinned at me, and unzipped her bag, reaching inside and drawing out a ball of twine. The stands were about half as thick as my pinky.

'We'll use this to tie around both our wrist, then tie it to Amitie. That way, if she wakes up, we'll know because we'll feel tugging with the twine.' She said. She unravelled it and held up a bit for me to see. 'You first.'

I hesitated for a jiffy, wondering why I was first. Ringo decided to clear up that question before I'd even asked it. 'Because if I tie a bit around your wrist first, I'll then tie a bit to Amitie's, and then you can tie a bit of twine around my wrist. Amitie will be in the middle of the thread, and we'll be at the ends. This will be better if she wakes up and is frightened; we'll be able to handle her easier. Besides, there will be enough thread between us so that we can move a bit- I won't tie anyone too close.' She said.

I figured what she said was true and let her tie my wrist with the thread. I trusted her. It was tied loose, which I was grateful for, but not loose enough that it could slide off easily. She did the same for Amitie, then I tied her wrist with the opposite end to me, just like she'd said to do.

For a minute we just stood there, looking around. The sun must have been really low on the horizon from the lack of light.

'Well, I guess we should try and get some sleep.' She said, then reached into her bag and grabbed out a sleeping bag. I knelt down and got mine out too, but stopped just after to ask a question.

'Ringo, why don't we just go back to your place for the night? It'd be safer and it isn't that far away.' It would also be warmer, but I didn't add that.

Ringo opened her mouth to speak, but Popoi answered for her. 'The reason we're not doing that is because we may have to go very far away to find other classmates; this way, we've got a bit of an advantage. Also, the longer you and me try to stay at Ringos' house, the more likely that her parents will find us.' He said. Instead of continuing talking, he crawled over to between Ringo and me, sitting between us on the bag. 'You get some sleep.' He said as if to explain. 'I'll keep watch over everything, okay?'

I looked at Ringo. We both nodded a yes. Amitie still just lay there. We set up the sleeping bags. I knew not to ask further about it; it wasn't often Popoi took quite that tone; though I'd sometimes hear him take a similar tone to deal with naughty students and to rant at me.

I lay back after climbing into my sleeping bag and turning to my side. It was a bit uncomfortable. Even though I'd looked out for rocks, some had managed to get underneath. I looked up sideways at the treetops. I guessed from above me, Ringo and Amitie would be making a strange triangle around Popoi and the bag. It was a funny thought and I smiled as I fell slowly into sleep.

00000000

I woke up again feeling like it wasn't much later. I'd been dreaming about weird things again. That fox boy, Lucky, had been back, I was sure. Even though it didn't look much like him.

'Why did you disappear last time?' I remember him asking over the top of soft music. It sounded like a flute was playing in the distance. 'You missed all of the interesting stuff that happened.' I didn't have time to ask what interesting stuff before I woke up.

For a jiffy, I didn't know why, except I could feel a tugging at my wrist and could hear the same music from my dream. I'd still been thinking about this dream, wondering why it was happening and what had been happening in it. Eventually my brain decided to wake up too and I remembered something- a tugging at my wrist meant someone was up and moving around.

The only thought that registered before I opened my eyes was _'I hope it's not the Amitie-thing from my dream…'_

Instead I saw something worse after my eyes adjusted to the dark: Both Ringo and Amitie were up and walking away slowly. From their close distance I figured they'd only just started, but it was still weird. The tugging increased, as they got further away.

I sat up and looked at Popoi, or at least where Popoi once was- he wasn't there anymore. I spun around in the sleeping bag, looking all around me. Where was he? Didn't he say he would keep watch? I wondered what to do- if Popoi was gone, should I follow them or stay here? Which would he tell me to do if he was here?

I got up and followed the two girls, the tugging stopped once I got closer. Even after making that decision I wasn't sure if it was right. I still didn't know what Popoi would say, I didn't know what to do to stop them, and I didn't know where this strange music was coming from…

I stopped: Ringo and Amitie were following the weird music. We hadn't left the forest-thing yet, but when we did I was sure they'd go to the music, wherever it is. The question was, why were they following it?

_"Maybe that had been what was hypnotising the others…?"_

The thread started pulling at my wrist again; they must have begun walking a bit faster. I had to continue moving towards them, being dragged by the thread, but at least I was still on my feet. I looked down at them, looking to make sure I wouldn't trip up. If I tripped now, I'd be dragged along the ground. The strange music continued to play.

Soon, we were out of the forest. It was a lot lighter here; so I could see up ahead that Popoi was sitting down just behind where the girls had been walking. What was he doing there? Was that where he was on lookout?

I walked closer, no longer needing to be dragged behind. 'Popoi, what are you doing here?' I asked, keeping my voice to a whisper. The way the music was playing was like an enchantment in a way; I felt speaking loudly would break it.

He looked up at me and responded: 'I was out here seeing what this music was like. It sounded like the music I heard in Primp town that night four days ago ago. Still, what are Ringo and Amitie doing up, are they going somewhere to get food or something?' He said. I could see from his face that he was tired. I hadn't thought he could get tired really- I just thought he faked sleep to fit in with humans. Maybe he didn't.

I looked away from him to where Ringo and Amitie were. The thread was slowly getting tenser as they continued to walk away. 'I'm not sure.' I said. Even though I had an idea of what was happening, I wasn't sure if it was right. Maybe they weren't following the music, what if I was wrong? Wasn't Popoi the one with most of the answers and theories? I wasn't sure what to do.

He shook his head and seemed to wake up a bit more, but only a bit. 'Well, I should untie you anyway Rider; if they are just going to get food then you should be staying here.'

I nodded, and he jumped up onto my wrist, just above the knot Ringo had made earlier. He started untying it, though it still took a few seconds where Ringo and Amitie kept moving forward. After they had gone about a meter, he'd managed to untie it.

I decided against my ideas that I would tell him what I thought was going on: after all, If he really was tired, maybe he wasn't able to make decisions properly. If that were so, then I'd just have to do that myself and hope that I get it right.

'Popoi, I'm not sure about this, but I think they are following the music. I also think the music might be what could be hypnotising them.' I said to him, hoping he wouldn't suddenly wake up and be annoyed at me for suggesting it. Instead he looked at me with his head tilted to the side. He looked a bit confused. I waited for a jiffy, keeping in mind that the girls were getting further away as well as how cold it is.

In less than 5 seconds, his face turned from confusion to dread. _'__He __must __have __woken __up.__'_ I thought.

'W-we've got to follow them.' He spluttered out, then jumped up on my shoulder from my wrist. I looked ahead. Thankfully they were still in sight, not being out of the park yet. I nodded and ran after them, passing the empty benches and gazebo. The thread danced around on the ground, as I got closer. _"__Well, __at __least __I__'__m __not __going __to __be __cold __now __due __to __running.__"_ I thought to myself as I continued to run.

00000000

It wasn't long until we'd arrived at a building. A tall building with stairs going up the side to the roof. A building that's red bricks looked as old as time. A building where many people were either heading to or going up the stairs, not just Amitie and Ringo. Popoi and me stayed back, not even trying to stop Ringo and Amitie anymore. All the other time we tried were simply shrugged off by them: They'd ignored us. The only thing we'd been able to do was untying them, otherwise if something happened to one, it would also happen to the other, or so Popoi said.

Instead, on Popoi's whispered direction, we hid underneath the first staircase alongside a rusted dumpster. We hid behind it, just in case, and stayed in the shadows where we could see others, but where they couldn't see us. The people kept going up the stairs, and in the middle of the crowd were Ringo and Amitie. I wondered why Ringo was going with Amitie? Maybe she was hypnotised too?

We waited. Soon they had vanished from our sight, leaving us to watch all of the people we didn't know, some of whom seemed a bit familiar.

I heard Popoi shuffling around on my shoulder, where he had hidden himself under my hoodie. I looked down at his general direction and he started whispering to me: 'Rider, I don't know what's up there. I have guesses but that's all. If they are right, and Cadel is the one who put classmates and everyone under a spell of hypnosis, then he would be the one up on top of the building playing the instrument.' He then turned away and I could see the silhouette of him leaning out of the hoodie. 'I don't know what we should do though.' He stated. 'Should we go up there and face him or wait here for a chance to strike?'

I thought about it for a moment, looking out at all the people. Still people were arriving at the building; still they were trying to climb the stairs. It was what my teacher might call surreal. The entire thing was surreal, the way they were allbehaving the exact same way.

Maybe surreal situations call for surreal solutions?

'…M-maybe there's another way up to the top.' I said to Popoi.

He turned the silhouette of his head towards me again. 'Maybe there is, but why do you say that?' He asked. It was unspoken between us that he was wondering why I was actually suggesting things instead of leaving it all up to others.

For a while I didn't answer, eventually muttering some like '…I just thought that you might be tired and things.'

He kept looking for a second, then turned away to face the stairs. '…I'm glad for you, you seem to be becoming a bit more mature.' He said. 'I'm glad I'm not the only one doing some mental footwork now. You were doing some before, then must have decided to leave it up to me somewhere down the line.'

I didn't know what to say to that, maybe I could have good ideas like Popoi and help a bit more.

'Still, we'll move out to take a look around this building when the crowd has died done a bit, okay?'

This seemed like a bad idea to me- if we moved now we would be hopefully unseen in a sea of people. As well as that, there would be more of a chance of finding Amitie and Ringo somehow if we didn't wait. At the same time, I wasn't sure whether to say this, would I just be annoying Popoi by questioning, or would he think I was being "mature"?

I looked out at the crowd. Even in the small time we'd been talking, they had started to thin out a bit, thought there was still a large amount of people waiting to go up the stairs. What happened to them once they went up the stairs?

'Popoi, shouldn't we go up there now?' I asked. Before he could ask any questions, I continued. 'Because if what you guess is true and Cadel is up there, then he could be teleporting people away right now, even Amitie and Ringo…'

For a minute it was silent, then after I'd started getting even more wrung up, he decided to speak: 'Well that sounds like a good choice. Let's go then.'

Then I was glad; I crept to the edge of the stairwell and looked around. The only people around were those going up the stairs, at least going by their looks. I paused for a jiffy, wondering if I could really do this. It wasn't the way I would usually do things. Then I stopped thinking about it, because I couldn't wait around thinking about it and wasting time, and partly because I already knew the answer: I could because I had too. Just like the other times, even though I was scared.

I took a deep breath and ran around the corner, still not being sure if the people were able to understand and raise an alarm. Keeping close to the building, I looked for other ways up to the top. I ran around from the back to the front door before seeing an emergency ladder, which looked like it was glowing under the streetlights. It started about halfway up the ground floor and went to the top. I stopped after that and had to start thinking- I was too short to climb it, even reaching it would only be done if I jumped really high.

I looked down at Popoi; even he looked as if he didn't know what to do. Did this mean my rescue mission was over? I felt like an idiot, both for thinking I could in the first place and for not being able to come up with a solution now.

So for a little bit I just stood there, waiting for a sign as to how I would get up there. I'd looked around the building- there didn't seem to be any boxes around except for moldy cardboard ones, and they wouldn't support me no matter how light I was. Once again I looked down at Popoi who surprised me: He looked up at me into my eyes and then jumped down to the ground. I looked at him and backed away as he seemed to… shift in a way, though shifting might not have been the right word for it. Instead he got bigger and wider slowly, ending up towering than me.

I looked up at him and he looked down on me. Nether of us said anything for a second; I wasn't sure what to say anyway. After all, it isn't often your friend that is also a puppet the size of a hand decides to become the size of an adult, and there are no guides of what to say when that happens.

While I was thinking this, the music stopped. I wasn't sure what this meant, unless all the people were already up there.

After that time he must have decided that he should speak to me: 'I know this is odd, but now isn't the time to question it or stand there stunned.' He mumbled at me, his mouth moving weirdly. 'I'll explain later, after we've done this.' He finished, and then jumped up onto the ladder, grabbed my hand and pulled me up too.

I grabbed hold of the sides of the ladder when he let go of my hands so I wouldn't fall. Keeping true to his word, he didn't start telling me about how he could be like this, and I didn't ask him. Instead I wondered just what would happen when, or if, we reached the top. Would Cadel be up there? Would we win any fight with him? Would he …kill us?

I shook my head. It was no good asking questions like that, even to myself. I couldn't answer them, and I was sure Popoi couldn't either.

Soon we'd reached the top, Popoi stopping as he reached the edge of the rooftop. I wondered what he was thinking; after all, if he were able to see things up there he'd be able to make a plan. The next thing he did was surprise me by jumping up there and disappearing from sight. I hesitated, then climbed up to the edge as well, keeping my head below it so I wouldn't be seen. I was wondering whether I should just climb down and give up, say it was too dangerous, until I heard Popoi whispering to me.

'Rider, where are you? Look where I am. It's hidden from where Cadel is, so it's safe to climb up.' He whispered from wherever he was. I inched upward, letting my eyes look over the edge. It was as he said. There was a small building, maybe housing an elevator or staircase to the roof. My less charitable side was complaining that maybe they shouldn't have as many rooftop entrances. Did they want to get robbed? After realising that Cadel was on the other side and couldn't see us, I dragged myself up there and tiptoed over to where Popoi was. He was slowly creeping towards the right with his back to the wall. He would have been trying to peek around it. I wasn't sure what to do, so I waited there. I didn't want to be seen. If I was hidden and Popoi was found, there was a chance Cadel would be merciful. If I was there…

I shivered. Even when I was trying not to be scared or think about it, I still managed to remember and be scared.

Just after that, however, Popoi doubled back and poked me in the arm. 'He isn't looking this way, so take a look at what's going on.'

I was hesitant, but still snuck over there to have a look. I could see Cadel in a light post that spilt over the floor, up until the elevator room. _'__They __must __really __want __to __be __broken __into __if __they __have __lights __to __guide __people.__'_ I said to myself. After thinking that, I turned my attention back to Cadel. He was standing within a group of people, holding what looked like a shell. Could that have been where the music was coming from? The only reason I could see him was he was standing taller than everyone else; maybe he'd grabbed a box to stand on? He was talking to them all, the many, many people who were on the building.

The next thing, a portal appeared behind him, spreading out until it was taller than a person. The people waited for a jiffy, until he pointed to it and started speaking words that must have been a whisper, because I couldn't understand them. After he pointed, they started walking calmly towards the portal.

I looked on in horror. Where would this portal take them? Back to that place that the weird girl, Mistress or something, called Infinity?

Popoi was also thinking something, though I wasn't sure what.

At least until he decided to speak. 'We've got to stop this Rider. These people, they may be magical, even if they haven't realised it. Even if they weren't, this couldn't be allowed to happen.' He finished; his voice had been dropping to a whisper steadily throughout the speech. The people had started walking towards the portal. 'We need to stop them from going into the portal. Especially Amitie and Ringo.' He whispered.

Then he did something weird: He bolted quietly out of the cover and tacked Cadel over from his makeshift podium. I wasn't expecting him to do that; I was expecting a kind of plan or at least him telling me about it. This wasn't right.

After he'd tackled Cadel, Popoi started fighting with him, clawing and biting in an animalistic way. Cadel was fighting back, and the crowd and me were standing around like mannequins. At least the crowd had an excuse for not fighting- they were hypnotised. My only excuse was being scared. Like always.

Even though Popoi had said he'd always be by my side, shouldn't I be helping him the same way he'd help me?

If only there was a way that I could help without getting too close, so that I wouldn't be afraid, but wouldn't be useless as well…

Then I figured it out: Magic, the same thing I'd been learning in Primp town. How could I forget it?

I stayed behind the elevator room, but peeked around so I could see where Cadel was. Because of Popoi, he wasn't watching over towards my way. I wondered if he'd even recognised him? Probably not.

After Popoi had swung away from Cadel's knife, I played my part:

'Temporalesco.'

After whispering that, a storm started raining down on them. Popoi jumped back, but Cadel didn't. I guess he didn't realise what was going on.

Soon the storm was throwing lightning as well as a bit of hail. I gulped and decided not to use it again, because while it wasn't hitting Popoi, due to him staying back, it was hitting the crowd of people, who didn't know to get away. They just stood there getting hurt.

Cadel however, like Popoi, was figuring things out, he ran away from where the storm was focusing, darting away from Popoi towards where I was.

I gasped and draw back against the wall. How had he figured out I was here?

I heard a thing landing on the flat roof of the elevator room. It would be Cadel, though why hadn't he just looked around the side if he knew I was here?

…Maybe he didn't know I was there and was just there so he could look around to see who's using magic from a vantage point.

I shivered and hoped he wouldn't find me, shutting my eyes just in case.

I heard the footsteps creeping over the roof and heard him say 'found you, little horned girl.'

I opened my eyes and looked up. He was leaning over the roof, looking down on me. I could see the knife shining in his hand.

He opened his mouth as if to say something else but couldn't. Popoi must have followed him, and tackled him off the roof, sending both him and Cadel to the ground just in front of me.

I stood up, wondering whether I should move. They weren't that close, but their fight was vicious enough- What if they got closer, with them biting and clawing each other?

"_They weren't even concerned about the others anymore were they…?"_

After thinking that, I started running. The crowd, what would it do when left alone? Would it continue into the portal or wait for more orders?

I rounded the corner, and saw the worst. They took the first option; continuing into the portal. There was about half left. They must have started moving as soon as Cadel jumped away, and very quickly.

I ran into the crowd, looking for a way to stop them. I grabbed at there hands, I tried to convince them not to. I t didn't matter what I did, even if I tried to heard them away, they would still continue towards it.

I stopped. It was impossible. I needed to focus on a smaller target, not a huge crowd, even if it was slowly getting smaller.

I needed to find Amitie and Ringo.

Once again I darted through the crowd, but instead of trying to stop everyone, I was just trying to find two. I just hoped they hadn't already gone through.

I sidestepped all the adults who could squash me, ran around all of the others who were in the way. I wasn't sure if I were heading in the right direction or even sure if I'd find them, I just kept trying anyway.

Eventually, I found them, or at least thought I had. I'd seen Ringos' curly ponytails and followed that, thinking Amitie would still be with her. After getting closer I realised she wasn't. Whether they'd gotten split up by the surge of the crowd or just drew apart naturally, I didn't know. But it didn't matter. Amitie still needed to be found, and I had to keep Ringo with me.

I grabbed her by her right hand and called out to her. 'Ringo, please stay with me. You don't want to go in there.' I knew she heard me, but wasn't sure if she understood it, all I know is it got her attention. She turned towards me and I thought I'd succeeded- until she grabbed my hand with her other and threw mine off. She then started walking away again.

I tried again, grabbing her wrist and attempting to drag her back. She was getting way to close to the portal for comfort; I could feel it pulling at my skirt, sleaves and hoodie.

This time she didn't throw my hand off, she just kept walking, going around the box Cadel had been standing on before. Instead of me dragging her back, she dragged me even closer towards the portal. Now it wasn't just pulling at my clothes. I started to panic; we couldn't go in there. There had to be a way to stop this.

I continued to try and pull her away: She continued to pull me forward. It was hopeless; this wouldn't work.

'What about magic, it nearly worked against Cadel. Maybe it'll work against the portal?' I said to myself. It might work? What would Popoi do?

'Arcobaleno.' I muttered to myself, focusing on the portal. At first I thought it wasn't doing anything, the attack was usually visible by now. Then I saw the portal turn dark, in the way a rainbow would look except without the colour, instead of its pink and purple shades.

Then it exploded; the shock wave crashing into us and throwing us back, sending us back into the crowd, which also fell. The sound wave was even worse; I felt like my ears would burst, it was so loud.

Once the ringing in my ears was getting quieter, I looked to my right for Ringo. She was just sitting there, as was everyone behind and in front of her. I guess with the portal gone, they had nowhere to go anymore.

I heard a yell to my right, back towards the elevator room. It wasn't Popoi making that noise. I hoped this meant that Popoi was winning.

The next second those hopes were dashed as Cadel jumped onto the roof. I could see from here that, even though he was swaying, he was still dangerous.

''_Maybe__Popoi__hadn__'__t__won...?__''_ I shivered at that thought. What would happen now?

What happened was a second roar that came from Cadel. Then he looked at me; the one yellow eye I could see filled with rage.

Then he ran towards me. I could see the knife in his hand and shrank back. I guessed it was a little too late to run away; even when he was only on the roof it was too late. Even knowing that, I stood up, grabbed Ringo's hand and pulling her up too, then backed away towards the edge of the buildings roof, trying to get away regardless. Before long, he was right in front of me, staring done on Ringo and I.

I waited for a jiffy, looking away from him, wondering when he'd get me. I knew I couldn't get away, we were on a roof who knows how many stories high, and Popoi didn't seem to be coming to rescue me anytime soon enough.

'Why are you always messing with my plans, little horned girl?' He asked of me, an undercurrent of anger running through his voice. This was strange for me, how even when before he'd been yelling, he tried to look under control now. It wasn't working. He looked even scarier than he had back in the antechamber, if that's even possible.

'I-it's because you take my friends away …where are they anyway…?' I asked him back, wondering whether he would even bother replying to it.

'They're in Infinity.' He said after a moment. 'But you won't be joining them there, or ever seeing them again… You should have listened when I said stay away. Too late; goodbye.' He said, raising the knife and preparing to strike.

For less than a second, I didn't know what to do. Then just as he was lowering the knife, I dragged Ringo backwards off the edge of the building, both of us falling towards the ground. It took all of my effort not to scream or panic. In this case I wished I were like Ringo; she wasn't panicking, even if it was only due to hypnosis.

Instead I focused on the ground, knowing if I didn't get it right then I probably kill both Ringo and me, and said 'Vento.'

At first, I wasn't sure if it worked, I didn't feel anything. I shut my eyes, thinking that soon we'd both be flat on the pavement. Next thing, I realised we'd been hanging in the air a bit too long and opened my eyes. Ringo and me were about two meters away from the ground, suspended in a tornado. I stopped the attack and we fell to the ground. I wasn't sure how Ringo landed, but I knew I landed on my hands and knees once again. It hurt, but it could've been worse; we could have fallen from who knows how many stories.

After rubbing my hands on my skirt to try and rub away the pain, I looked to Ringo. Unlike me, she'd fallen onto her side. I mentally kicked myself for not thinking about it more- in her hypnotised state, she might not have been able to land properly.

I stopped thinking about that: I could hear something jumping down the flights of stairs. Cadel was following us.

I looked around, wondering where I should go. I didn't know. The forest? The dumpster? The roof again? To Popoi? I still didn't know.

I could hear the thuds getting closer. I guessed he was about halfway down.

I tried to grab Ringo and drag her with me. Even if I didn't know where we were going, we had to get out of here now! She didn't respond. She didn't try to get up, or even open her eyes. I gasped, what if I'd killed her?

I pushed that thought out of my mind and instead started thinking again about where to go. If Ringo weren't moving, then it'd be best to put her somewhere safe I could find her again, assuming nothing happened…

I settled on the nearby dumpster. I dragged her over to it, being as quiet as possible, then pulled her behind it. I didn't have the strength to lift her into it.

After that, I ran, leaving her behind. I wanted to get back to Popoi- he'd said he'd protect me after all. I rounded the same corner again, and saw a problem:

The ladder.

I slowed to a walk and my hopes died. I wasn't a fast runner, Cadel was probably right behind me, and I was too small to climb this ladder. I wasn't going to get to Popoi, he wasn't going to save me, I wasn't going to see my family or Tarutaru again…

I sobbed and tried not to cry and not to panic. It was too late; I'd already started both of them.

I shook my head and tried to focus. Behind me I could hear running footsteps. Cadel was closing in. Could I attack with magic and win against him? The other time it hadn't worked…

I thought of a plan, it was a long shot, but it could work…

'Vento.' I said again. This time, the tornado appeared below me, raising me up past about 5 rungs of the ladder. I grabbed a rung and started climbing as fast as I could. Soon I was getting out of breath, and my arms and legs were hurting, but I put the thought of that out of mind, focusing instead only on climbing.

When I was about halfway up, I heard the running footsteps stop. I tried to climb even faster; Cadel would soon be here too. I needed to get to the top now.

Soon after I reached the top, scrambled onto the roof and started looking quickly for Popoi. I couldn't see him anywhere. I nearly started crying again, until I heard him calling to me:

'Rider, I'm over near the rooftop building.' I heard him say.

I ran over, wondering when Cadel would arrive at the top. 'He was back in his usual form now, lying on the ground. 'Popoi, what happened to you?' I asked.

'He won.' Popoi said. Standing up in the way he does, and grabbing at my sleave. 'I can't help you Rider, he already won once, he'll just win again. I guess he's following you, right?'

I nodded, and sat down beside Popoi, facing out to the ladder. I could hear he was almost at the top.

I didn't talk though. There was nothing left to say. I was too tired to keep running anymore.

'Rider' said Popoi, I turned towards him to see him looking at me. 'What if we both attacked with magic at the same time, do you think we'd win?' he asked. His eyes were looking at me with the same confused look I'm sure I would have given him many times.

'I'm not sure…' I muttered. 'I hope it works though.' He looked away again, back at the ladder.

Cadel was staring over the top at us:

'What are you going to do now, little horned girl?' He asked in a sarcastic way. 'Are you going to fall off the building again? Or maybe try and blow me up with that strange magic that collapsed my portal?' I grabbed Popoi in my arms and stood up, backing away slowly towards the elevator room. Cadel followed, pulling himself over the edge of the building's roof.

Soon I was back at the wall. I wasn't sure what to do or where to go from there. If I ran to the sides, he'd catch me for sure.

"_I guess the only thing I can do is hope Popoi's plan works."_

Cadel kept coming closer, going a bit slower now. His balance looked like it was working against him and he looked like he'd fall over soon- just not soon enough.

I could hear Popoi whispering from my arms. 'One…two…'

I flinched; I didn't know when we were counting to for the attacks. '…Three!' He said then jumped out of my arms and yelled 'stardust whip.'

I hesitated, then called out 'Arcobaleno' just like before. The stardust whip had hit first, knocking Cadel back to the very edge, then the rainbow arrived and instead of exploding him like had happened with the portal, it instead started burning him. I choked at smelling the burning flesh.

But the weirdest thing was that he wasn't screaming or even doing anything to show that he was hurt besides slouching. I wasn't sure if this meant he was dead or what.

A second later I still wasn't sure. While the attack had finished, he still wasn't doing anything other than standing there. I tried to step back a bit more; was he invincible or something?

'…Rider' I heard Popoi whisper after a while of waiting. I still didn't take my eyes off Cadel. 'We need to see what's going on. I'm not sure if he's dead or something else…'

I didn't know what he meant by "see what's going on." Did he mean going up and having a close look at him…? I asked him that and he said '…that could be the only way.' I shivered, even while inching towards Cadel.

As I got closer he continued to do nothing. I hesitated and started walking again towards him, wondering when something bad would happen, or even if it would.

Soon, I was right in front of him. I looked up to his hidden face; none of his eyes were visible anymore. The smell of burnt flesh was even worse this close. _"__I__wish__I__didn__'__t__have__a__nose.__"_ I thought to myself.

I waited for a second, looked down at Popoi who nodded to keep going, then reached out my right hand to touch him. I figured that if he were still alive, he'd react. I was really hoping he wouldn't react. My hand touched his arm's sleeve, and I thought that there would be no reaction.

Then Popoi called out 'Get back Rider!' and I felt the knife slash my right arm. I wheeled around to my right, knocking him away with my left arm. For about a second or two I felt pain where I'd been slashed, but then it turned numb.

I heard Popoi running over somewhere and looked up to see him staring over the edge. He turned back to me then asked me a question in a panicked voice. 'Are you alright Rider?'

'…I think so.' I answered him. 'Except my arm's gone numb, I-is that normal?' I asked.

I looked at him instead of continuing to look where Cadel had been. He looked a bit confused himself, though it was getting a bit hard to see him because weird green dots were dancing around in front of him.

'…I don't think that _is_ normal Rider.' He then jumped down to my arm. I cringed. Even though it wasn't hurting, I still didn't want him to touch it just in case it did.

He looked back up at me: 'Don't worry Rider, I'll make sure to be careful.' He then started tugging at my sleeve, trying to look in the cut part of the sleeve to the skin. When the green dots moved away, I saw that it was fairly bloody. I turned away quickly- I didn't want to look at it.

'Rider, are you okay?' I heard Popoi ask. I didn't say anything, I couldn't think of anything to say. The green dots continued dancing in front of my eyes, except there were more of them

'It'll be okay Rider, you have nothing to worry about.' I could hear him saying to me. When I didn't respond he continued '…Okay, maybe it won't, I'll try and fix it okay.' He said, possibly trying to reassure me. Next thing, he'd grabbed my sleeved and pulled it up around my elbow. I could feel it running against the cut slightly. After that, I could hear a faint ripping sound then felt something being wrapped around the cut.

I shook my head, trying to get rid of the strange circles and looked down. Popoi was tying part of ripped fabric around the cut in my right arm. I looked away again, back towards the ground. I didn't feel too good and slumped forwards a bit. I just wanted to lie down for a bit, I was tired and hadn't had a very good sleep after all.

'Rider.' I heard Popoi call out. 'Rider, you'll be okay. I'll just finish tying this up and you'll be okay. It won't bleed as much anymore, I'm sure.' In response, I tried to turn to him, even though my head felt like it was made of lead.

He looked at me with his head tilted to the side, just like a real cat. 'Okay, where's Ringo and Amitie, Rider. They must be somewhere, did you hide them before coming up here?' he asked me.

'Umm…there's no Amitie, just Ringo.' I told him, feeling sick in my stomach. 'She's behind the dumpster we were hiding behind.' I finished. I wasn't sure whether to tell him about the green dots or anything else that was weird. I still felt really tired, as if my eyes would close any minute.

And then they did.

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A/N Well another chapter is up. Sorry about it taking so long, though it is a lot longer than usual, which took longer to write.

Anyway, happy Christmas to anyone who reads this and a happy new Year.

Also, I went through and think I fixed up all the cases of italicized writing running together to form one word, but there might still be some left. Hopefully I found it all.


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